Charles-René de Bombelles

Charles-René de Bombelles was born on 6 November 1784 in Versailles as the third son of Marc Marie, Marquis de Bombelles, and Marie-Angélique de Bombelles. He came from a French noble family and was a grandson of Henri François de Bombelles. His siblings included Louis Philippe, who served as an Austrian diplomat and court official; Henri François, who later became tutor to the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph; and Caroline Antoinette, a lady-in-waiting to the Duchess of Berry. Like many members of the French nobility who were forced to leave their homeland by the political upheavals, the family fled to Austria during the French Revolution. As a teenager, Bombelles entered Austrian military service. He began as an ensign in the Austrian Mittrowsky Regiment and, after several years, was promoted to captain in 1804. During the Napoleonic Wars, he therefore served on Austria’s side. After Napoleon’s defeat, Bombelles returned to France in 1814 and became aide-de-camp to Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg, commander-in-chief of the allied armies. He initially remained in Paris in this role. He was later appointed an infantry lieutenant. Also in 1814, Bombelles married Caroline Sabine Victoire de Poulhariez de Saint-André de Foucaud. They had two children: a son, Louis, born in 1817, and a daughter, Marie, born in 1819. Bombelles became a widower soon afterward. Accounts differ as to the exact date of his wife’s death, but contemporary sources suggest that Caroline died in Vienna in 1819. Bombelles was thus left to care for their two young children. The later part of his life was closely connected with Marie Louise, the former wife of Napoleon and later Duchess of Parma. Marie Louise had received the Duchy of Parma under the Treaty of Fontainebleau in 1814. Her second, morganatic husband, the Austrian diplomat Adam Albert von Neipperg, died in 1829. His successor as Grand Chamberlain, Josef von Werklein, proved unsuitable. Bombelles was proposed for the position on the recommendation of the Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich. Bombelles initially declined the offer. After careful consideration, however, he accepted it and, at the age of 48, became Grand Chamberlain at the court of Parma. In this position, he gained a reputation as an exceptionally conscientious and orderly official. Parma was marked by political and social conflicts, and Bombelles sought to reorganize the court and restore public confidence. He filled vacant positions with respected individuals and introduced a strictly regulated administration. Under his leadership, the court’s finances were monitored in detail. An annual budget was established for each department, and its limits were generally not exceeded. Whenever possible, supplies and construction work for the ducal residence were put out to public tender so that several providers could compete. The individual departments were given clearly defined responsibilities, expenses were settled monthly, and an annual balance sheet of income and expenditure was prepared. This had to be examined by the duchy’s financial administration before being submitted to Marie Louise. Bombelles therefore combined his courtly position with a strong sense of administration and economy. During his service, Bombelles and Marie Louise grew closer. The duchess eventually proposed marriage to him herself. They married secretly on 17 February 1834. The marriage was morganatic because Marie Louise, as a duchess, held a higher rank, while Bombelles was merely a lesser nobleman and officer whose status was initially defined chiefly by his rank as a captain. He later also held the title of count. After the wedding, he additionally assumed the office of Minister of Defence. Little is known about their life together. The surviving accounts nevertheless suggest that the relationship was happy and marked by mutual affection. Bombelles and Marie Louise remained married until her death. Marie Louise died on 17 December 1847, and Bombelles stayed at her side during her final days. In her will, she publicly acknowledged their marriage and remembered both his daughter Marie and her stepdaughter. Marie received an ivory crucifix that had hung from the curtains of the bed and was intended to receive the duchess’s final breath. Bombelles himself inherited, among other things, 300,000 Italian lire in Milanese bonds, a portrait of Marie Louise by François Gérard, and her books and manuscripts. After his wife’s death, Charles-René de Bombelles returned to Vienna. There he entered the service of the Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I. He later went back to France. He died in Versailles, his birthplace, on 30 May 1856, at the age of 71. His life thus combined the experiences of a French émigré and Austrian soldier with a significant court career in Parma and a late morganatic marriage to Napoleon’s widow.