Jules de Polignac | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byFrançois Gérard | |
| Prime Minister of France | |
| In office 8 August 1829 – 29 July 1830 | |
| Monarch | Charles X |
| Preceded by | Jean-Baptiste de Martignac |
| Succeeded by | Casimir de Rochechouart |
| French Ambassador to the United Kingdom | |
| In office 28 December 1822 – 4 January 1828 | |
| Appointed by | Jean-Baptiste de Villèle |
| Preceded by | François-René de Chateaubriand |
| Succeeded by | Pierre de Montmorency-Laval |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1780-05-14)14 May 1780 |
| Died | 2 March 1847(1847-03-02) (aged 66) |
| Resting place | Picpus Cemetery |
| Political party | Ultra-royalist |
| Spouses | |
| Children | Armand Seyna-Camille Alphonse Ludovic Yolande Camille Edmond |
| Parent(s) | Jules, 1st Duke of Polignac Yolande de Polastron |
| Signature |  |
Jules Auguste Armand Marie de Polignac, Count of Polignac (French:[ʒyldəpɔliɲak]; 14 May 1780 – 30 March 1847),[1] thenPrince of Polignac, and briefly3rd Duke of Polignac in 1847, was a French statesman andultra-royalist politician afterthe Revolution. He served as prime minister underCharles X, just before theJuly Revolution in 1830 that overthrew the senior line of theHouse of Bourbon.
Born inVersailles, Jules was the younger son ofJules, 1st Duke of Polignac, andGabrielle de Polastron, a confidante and favourite of QueenMarie-Antoinette. Due to his mother's privileged position, the young Jules was raised in the environment of the court of Versailles, where his family occupied a luxurious suite of thirteen rooms. His sister,Aglaé, was married to the duc de Guîche at a young age, helping to cement the Polignac family's position as one of the leaders of high society at Versailles.
With the outbreak of theFrench Revolution in 1789, Jules's mother and her circle were forced to flee abroad due to threats against their lives. She had been one of the most consistent supporters of absolutism, and she bequeathed these political sympathies to her son following her death in 1793.
Jules married twice. He was first married in London, in 1816, to Barbara Campbell (Ardneaves House, Islay 22 Aug. 1788 – Saint-Mandé 23 May 1819), a young Scotswoman. Barbara later returned with him to France, where they had two children:
After his first wife's death in 1819, he married in London, on 3 June 1824, Charlotte, comtesse de Choiseul, widow of comte Cesar de Choiseul (d. 1821),née theHonourable (Maria) Charlotte Parkyns (St. Marylebone, 6 Jan. 1792 – 1/2 Sep. 1864). She was the youngest child (of six children) ofThomas Parkyns, 1st Baron Rancliffe (created 1795)[2] and his wife Elizabeth Anne James, and sister ofGeorge Augustus Anne Parkyns, Lord Rancliffe[3] andHenrietta, Lady Rumbold (1789–1833), wife ofSir William Rumbold, 3rd Bt.[4] He had met her while she was renewing her passport at the London embassy, where he was the Ambassador (1823–1829).[5] They had five children, two of whom were born while their father was in prison:
The couple's marriage was annulled by the French Chamber of Peers, but Jules and Charlotte went to England after his release in 1836, and they renewed their vows before the French consul in 1837.[9]
Returning to France, which was then ruled byNapoleon Bonaparte, Jules continued in his zealous loyalty to the exiled Royal Family. In 1804, a year after his sister's death, Jules was implicated in the conspiracy ofCadoudal andPichegru to assassinate Bonaparte, and was imprisoned until 1813. After the restoration of theBourbons, he was rewarded with various honours and positions. He held various offices, received from the Pope his title of "Prince," in 1820, and in 1823, KingLouis XVIII made him ambassador to Great Britain. A year later, his mother's former friend ascended the throne as KingCharles X. Polignac's political sympathies did not alter, and he was one of the most conspicuousultra-royalists during the Restoration era.
At the time, it was rumoured that Polignac supported ultra-royalist policies because he thought he was receiving inspiration from theVirgin Mary. There is little historical evidence for this story, however. There is no mention of such motivation in Polignac's personal memoirs or in the memoirs of the Restoration court.
On 8 August 1829,Charles X appointed him to the ministry of foreign affairs and in the following November, Polignac became president of the council, effectively the most powerful politician in France. His appointment was considered a step towards overthrowing the constitution and Polignac, with other ministers, was held responsible for the decision to issue theFour Ordinances, which were the immediate cause of therevolution of July 1830.
Upon the outbreak of revolt, he fled, wandering for some time among the wilds ofNormandy before he was arrested atGranville. At his trial before the Chamber of Peers, he was condemned and sentenced to 'perpetual' imprisonment at the château inHam. But he benefited by the amnesty of 1836, when his sentence was commuted to exile. During his captivity, he wroteConsiderations politiques (1832). Afterwards, he spent several years in exile in England before being permitted to re-enter France, on condition that he never again take up his abode in Paris.
According to theLegacies of British Slave-Ownership at theUniversity College London, de Polignac was awarded a payment as a slave trader in the aftermath of theSlavery Abolition Act 1833 with theSlave Compensation Act 1837. The British Government took out a £15 million loan (worth £1.8 billion in 2023[10]) with interest fromNathan Mayer Rothschild andMoses Montefiore, paid from the public budget (formally ending in 2015). de Polignac was associated with three different claims, he owned 628 slaves inSaint Vincent and the Grenadines and received a £15,765 payment at the time (worth £1.89 million in 2023[10]).[11] Although a French subject, de Polignac had connections in the British Empire due to his Scottish wife, Barbara Campbell (1788–1819), daughter of Duncan Campbell of Ardnave.
From his second marriage to Maria-Charlotte Parkyns, daughter of Lord Rancliffe, Jules de Polignac had fathered seven children, including Prince Ludovic de Polignac (1827–1904), a lieutenant-colonel in the French Army who participated in the colonization ofAlgeria; PrinceCamille Armand Jules Marie de Polignac (1832–1913), a major-general in theConfederate Army during theAmerican Civil War; andPrince Edmond de Polignac (1834–1901), a composer, musical theorist and proponent of theoctatonic scale.
Jules died at St. Germain in 1847 from the effects of his imprisonment.[12] About one month prior, he had assumed the title of duc de Polignac upon the death of his older brother, Armand, who had died without children.
Comte Pierre de Polignac, later Prince Pierre, Duke of Valentinois (father ofRainier III of Monaco and therefore an ancestor of the entire current princely family) is descended from a different andcadet branch of the Polignac family, which has the comital rank only. Pierre was the youngest son, descended from the youngest son of the first Duke of Polignac.[12]
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Polignac".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Prime Minister of France 1829–1830 | Succeeded by |
| French nobility | ||
| Preceded by Armand de Polignac | Duke of Polignac 1 March 1847 – 30 March 1847 | Succeeded by Jules de Polignac |
Ministry of Jules de Polignac (8 August 1829 to29 July 1830) | ||
|---|---|---|
Head of state: KingCharles X of France | ||
| President of the council | ||
| Foreign Affairs | ||
| Finance | ||
| Interior | ||
| Justice | ||
| Navy and Colonies | ||
| War | ||
| Public Education and Religious Affairs | ||
| Public Works | ||
