Charles, comte de Flahaut | |
---|---|
Charles, de facto 2nd Count of Flahaut
|
|
Born |
Paris, France |
21 April 1785
Died | 1 September 1870 Paris, France |
(aged 85)
Nationality | French |
Spouse(s) | Margaret, Countess of Flahault, also Baroness Keith and Nairne |
Issue |
Charles, Duke of Morny; Emily Petty-Fitzmaurice, Marchioness of Lansdowne; Georgiana, Dowager Marchioness of La Valette |
Parents |
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord; Adelaide Filleul, Marchioness of Souza-Botelho |
www.charles-de-flahaut.fr |
Auguste-Charles-Joseph de Flahaut de La Billarderie, comte de Flahaut (21 April 1785 – 1 September 1870) was a French general and .
Charles de Flahaut was the lover of Napoleon I's stepdaughter, Hortense de Beauharnais (Queen of Holland), by whom he had an illegitimate son, Charles Demorny who later became Duke of Morny.
He was born in Paris, officially the son of Marshal Alexandre-Sébastien, comte de Flahaut (2nd son of ) who was guillotined at Arras in February 1793, by his wife Adélaïde Filleul, However, Charles de Flahaut was generally recognized to be the offspring of his mother's liaison with Talleyrand, with whom he was closely connected throughout his life. His mother took him with her into exile in 1792, and they remained abroad until 1798, moving from England to Switzerland (where she is rumoured to have "become involved" with Louis-Philippe, then Duke of Orleans), before Hamburg where she met her second husband, Ambassador Dom José Maria do Carmo de Sousa Botelho Mourão e Vasconcelos, .
Charles de Flahaut volunteered for military service joining the cavalry in 1800, and received his army commission after the Battle of Marengo. He was appointed Aide-de-Camp to Joachim, 1st Prince Murat, and was wounded at the Battle of Landbach in 1805.