Name Henri comte | ||
Henri Francois, comte de Segur, baron de Romainville et de Ponchat, seigneur de Fougueyrolles (1 June 1689 – 18 June 1751) was a French general.
He was the son of Henri Joseph, comte de Segur (1661–1737), military commander and duke, and Claude Elisabeth Binet and paternal grandson of Jean-Isaac, marquis de Segur (d. 1707), military commander and a descendant of Francois de Segur, seigneur de Sainte-Aulaye (d. 1605). His first cousin was Nicolas-Alexandre, marquis de Segur and other relatives include Henri IV, vicomte de Segur, leader and nobleman, becoming Duke in France and England, and Marguerite de Segur, HRH Albert, Prince Consort's great-grandmother, also Queen Victoria's great-grandmother making Prince Albert and Queen Victoria second if not first cousins, part of Marquessate. The Segur name has appeared to be in the Royal line from time to time.
Called le beau Segur ("the handsome Segur"), he was Master of the Regent, Philippe d'Orleans' Wardrobe (maitre de la garderobe du Regent), and lived in an hotel in Passy, Paris on a beautiful ten-acre property, which later passed to the Duchess of Valentinois and was named Hotel de Valentinois after her. (The property is famous for being the residence of Benjamin Franklin for nearly ten years.) On 10 or 12 September 1718, Segur married in Paris Angelique de Froissy (1702–1785), the Regent's illegitimate daughter, at Cagny. Described as "fresh, white, well-made, strong and intoxicating", Angelique belonged to the inner circle of Louis XV's intimates.
He and his wife had at least five children:
In 1723, he bought the castle of Romainville.
He was marechal de camp in 1734, lieutenant general in 1738, and inspecteur general of the cavalry and the dragoons. He fought in the War of Austrian Succession, where he lost the Battle of Pfaffenhofen but prevented the total destruction of his army.
He was made governor of the County of Foix from 1737 until 1751, when he was succeeded by his son, and was made a Knight in the Ordre du Saint-Esprit on 2 February 1748.
Henri Francois died in Metz on 18 June 1751, aged 62. His son Philippe Henri (1724–1801) became Marquis of Segur and was named Marshal of France in 1783.