Mother Anne Julie de Melun | Name Charles, of | |
 | ||
Born 16 July 1715
Palace of Versailles, France ( 1715-07-16 ) Issue
Detail Charlotte, Princess of Conde
Victoire, Princess of Guemenee Father Jules, Prince of Soubise Died July 1, 1787, Hotel de Soubise Spouse Landgravine Victoria of Hesse-Rotenburg (m. 1745–1787) Children Victoire de Rohan, Charlotte de Rohan Parents Anne Julie de Melun, Jules, Prince of Soubise Grandchildren Charles Alain, Prince of Guemene, Louis Henri, Prince of Conde, Louise Adelaide de Bourbon Grandparents Elisabeth Therese de Lorraine, Hercule Meriadec, Duke of Rohan-Rohan, Anne Genevieve de Levis | ||
Charles de Rohan (16 July 1715 – 1 July 1787), duke of Rohan-Rohan, seigneur of Roberval, and marshal of France from 1758, was a military man, and a minister to the kings Louis XV and Louis XVI. The last male of his branch of the House of Rohan, he was also the great grandfather to the duc d'Enghien, executed by Napoleon in 1804. Styled prince d'Epinoy at birth, he became the Prince of Soubise after 1749.
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Biography
The prince was born at Versailles on 16 January 1715, the son of Jules, Prince of Soubise, lieutenant captain of the gendarmes of the Royal Guard, and of Anne Julie Adelaide de Melun. The eldest of five children, he was styled the Prince of Epinoy till his father's death in 1724.
His parents died in Paris of smallpox in 1724, remaining his siblings, including Marie Louise, making them orphans. His sister lost her husband to smallpox in 1743.
He was entrusted to his grandfather Hercule Meriadec, Duke of Rohan-Rohan, who raised Soubise to the court, where he became the companion of Louis XV, who was the same age as he. One of his great grandmothers was Madame de Ventadour, via his paternal grandmother Anne Genevieve de Levis; Madame de Ventadour, who died in 1744, was close to her great grandson.
He accompanied Louis XV in the campaign of 1744-1748 and attained high military rank, which owed more to his courtiership than to his generalship.
Soon after the beginning of the Seven Years' War, through the influence of Madame de Pompadour, he was put in command of a corps of 24,000 men, and in November 1757 he sustained the crushing defeat of Rossbach. Along with the failure to hold Hanover following the Invasion of Hanover (1757) this marked a dramatic turnaround for French fortunes as just months before they have seemed on the brink of victory.
He was more fortunate, however, in his later military career, and continued in the service until the general peace of 1763, after which he lived the life of an ordinary courtier and man of fashion in Paris.
"Soubise" also refers to a culinary dish with a sauce made with a rice and onion puree, named to compliment Charles de Rohan, prince of Soubise: see sauce Soubise.
Marriages
Charles married three times: