Auguste-Louis-Albéric, prince d'Arenberg

Auguste Louis Albéric, Prince of Arenberg (15 September 1837 – 24 January 1924) was a French noble and monarchist politician. He was noted for his great wealth and extensive properties throughout France, in particular at Menetou-Salon (Cher).

Auguste, Prince of Arenberg
Auguste Louis Albéric, Prince of Arenberg
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
1877–1902
Personal details
Born
Auguste Louis Albéric d'Arenberg

(1837-09-15)15 September 1837
Paris, France
Died24 January 1924(1924-01-24) (aged 86)
Paris, France
Spouse(s)
Jeanne Marie Louise de Greffulhe
​
​
(m. 1868; died 1891)​
RelationsLouis Engelbert, 6th Duke of Arenberg (grandfather)
Prosper Louis, 7th Duke of Arenberg (uncle)
Children4
ParentsPierre d'Alcantara Charles
Alix de Talleyrand-Périgord

Early life

The Prince of Arenberg was born in Paris on 15 September 1837. He was the third son of Pierre d'Alcantara Charles Marie, duc d'Arenberg (1790–1877) and Alix Marie Charlotte de Talleyrand-Périgord (1808–1842). His father was made a peer of France in 1827 and became a naturalized French subject by order of King Charles X in 1828.[1] Because both of his older brothers died prematurely, he inherited his father's title. His elder sister Marie Nicolette was married to Charles de Mérode, 10th Marquess of Westerloo. After his mother's death in 1842, his father remarried to Caroline Léopoldine Jeanne, Princess of Kaunitz-Rietberg-Questenberg, in 1860.

His paternal grandfather was Louis Engelbert, 6th Duke of Arenberg and his uncle was Prosper Louis, 7th Duke of Arenberg.[2]

Career

Arenberg served in the Chamber of Deputies from 1877 to 1881. He was elected as the official candidate of the MacMahon government, winning the poll due to the abstention of republican voters disenchanted with his predecessor. In the Chamber, he voted consistently with the monarchist Right and conservatives. He voted against the legalization of divorce.[3]

Returned to parliament as a monarchist candidate again in 1889, Arenberg continued his opposition to republican government. After Rerum novarum and Pope Leo XIII's recognition of the Third Republic, however, Arenberg changed his rhetoric, campaigning in 1893 as a "liberal republican". In the Chamber, he concentrated on colonial issues, in particular those concerning Africa; among his projects were securing free navigation of the Niger River and delineating Anglo-French colonial boundaries.[4]

Defeated in the 1902 elections and failing to secure reelection again in 1906, Arenberg retired from politics, but remained active in public life. He was the first president of the procolonial Comité de l'Afrique française and remained active with the organization until his death.[5]

Later life

A convinced Catholic himself, during 1895 he was one of the organizers of a failed attempt to build a mosque in Paris through private donations. From 1896 he was also president of the Compagnie universelle du canal maritime de Suez, and he was a member of the Institut de France (Académie des beaux-arts) from 1897.[4]

Personal life

On 18 June 1868, Arenberg was married to Jeanne Marie Louise de Greffulhe (1850–1891).[6][7] She was a daughter of Count Louis-Charles Greffulhe and Félicité Pauline de La Rochefoucauld and sister of Henry Greffulhe (a personal friend of author Marcel Proust).[8][9] They were the parents of four children:[10]

The Prince died on 24 January 1924.[4]

Descendants

Through his son Charles, he was a grandfather of Prince Charles Auguste Armand d'Arenberg (1905–1967), who married American heiress Margaret (née Bedford) Bancroft in 1960.[15] They were the parents of one son, Prince Pierre Frederick Henri d'Arenberg (b. 1961),[16] before his death in 1967. She remarried to Emmanuel Jacques de Crussol, Duke d'Uzès.[17]

References
  1. Charles Emmanuel Joseph Poplimont (1863), La Belgique héraldique, Typ. de G. Adriaens, 1863. p. 205
  2. "PRINCE TO TURN FARMER.; Prosper of Arenberg, Condemned for Murder, Now to be Sent to Argentina". The New York Times. 21 August 1910.
  3. Robert, Adolphe, Edgar Bourloton, and Gaston Cougny, dirs. Dictionnaire des parlementaires français, comprennant tous les membres des assemblées françaises et tous les ministres français depuis le 1er mai 1789 jusqu'au 1er mai 1889, avec leurs noms, état civil, état de services, actes politiques, votes parlementaires, etc. 5 vols. Paris: Bourloton, Éditeur, 1891.
  4. Jolly, Jean, dir. Dictionnaire des parlementaires français: Notices biographiques sur les ministres, députés et sénateurs français de 1889 à 1940. Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1960–70.
  5. "Auguste Louis Albéric, Prince d'Arenberg". www.britishmuseum.org. British Museum. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  6. Nauroy, Charles (1883). Le Curieux (in French). p. 148.
  7. Le Bulletin héraldique de France; ou, Revue historique de la noblesse ... (in French). 1890. p. 185.
  8. "GREFFULHE PAPIERS DE LA FAMILLE" (PDF). Archives Nationales du Monde du Travail. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  9. Histoire de la Maison royale de France (in French). 1879. p. 739.
  10. Annuaire de la noblesse de France (in French). Au Bureau de la publication. 1894.
  11. Robinson, Paul (2014). Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich: Supreme Commander of the Russian Army (in Arabic). Cornell University Press. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-60909-163-7.
  12. Mension-Rigau, Eric (2011). L'ami du prince: Journal inédit d'Alfred de Gramont (1892-1915) (in French). Fayard. p. 225. ISBN 978-2-213-66502-3.
  13. of), Melville Amadeus Henry Douglas Heddle de La Caillemotte de Massue de Ruvigny Ruvigny and Raineval (9th marquis (1914). The Titled Nobility of Europe: An International Peerage, Or "Who's Who", of the Sovereigns, Princes and Nobles of Europe. Harrison & Sons. p. 1531.
  14. "PRINCE D'ARENBERG KILLED.; Tenth Member of French Aristocracy to Die in the War". The New York Times. 22 March 1915.
  15. "Secret Marriage Of Mrs. Bancroft Announced Here; Daughter of Standard Oil Aide Wed Dec. 29 to Prince d'Arenberg". The New York Times. 7 February 1961. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  16. "Son to the d'Arenbergs". The New York Times. 17 October 1961.
  17. Nemy, Enid (18 October 1977). "DUCHESS D'UZES DIES IN AN AUTO ACCIDENT: U.S. Born Socialite is Killed After A Party Near Paris--Was Wife of France's Premier Duke". The New York Times.
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