Victoire Armande Josèphe de Rohan
Encyclopedia
Victoire de Rohan, Princess of Guéméné (Victoire Armande Josèphe; 28 December 1743 – 20 September 1807) was a French aristocrat
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...

 who was the governess of the children of Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....

. She is known better as Madame de Guéméné. She was Lady of Clisson
Clisson
Clisson , is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique département in western France.It is situated at the confluence of the Sèvre Nantaise and the Moine southeast of Nantes ....

 in her own right.

Biography

Victoire Armande Josèphe de Rohan was the second daughter of Charles de Rohan, Prince of Soubise. The Princes of Soubise were a cadet branch of the House of Rohan. Her mother was Princess Anna Teresa of Savoy, a daughter of Victor Amadeus, Prince of Carignano. Her mother was also a first cousin of Louis XV through an illegitimate line. She had an older half-sister, Charlotte de Rohan, who married in 1753 Louis Joseph de Bourbon, prince de Condé
Louis Joseph de Bourbon, prince de Condé
Louis Joseph de Bourbon was Prince of Condé from 1740 to his death. A member of the House of Bourbon, he held the prestigious rank of Prince du Sang.-Biography:...

. As the princesse de Condé, Charlotte was a princesse du sang
Prince du Sang
A prince of the blood was a person who was legitimately descended in the male line from the monarch of a country. In France, the rank of prince du sang was the highest held at court after the immediate family of the king during the ancien régime and the Bourbon Restoration...

 and far outranked her younger half-sister.

As the House of Rohan claimed descent from the medieval Dukes of Brittany, its members were treated at court as princes étrangers
Foreign Prince
Foreign Prince is the English translation of prince étranger, a high, though somewhat ambiguous, rank at the French royal court of the ancien régime.-Terminology:...

with the style of Highness
Highness
Highness, often used with a possessive adjective , is an attribute referring to the rank of the dynasty in an address...

.

At the age of seventeen, Victoire married her cousin, Henri Louis de Rohan, duc de Montbazon
Henri Louis, Prince of Guéméné
Henri Louis de Rohan, Prince of Guéméné , was a French courtier and the penultimate Grand Chamberlain of France.-Biography:...

, who was fifteen at the time. He was a member of the main House of Rohan, the Princes of Guéméné. He was a nephew of the cardinal de Rohan, who was disgraced in the famous Affair of the Diamond Necklace
Affair of the diamond necklace
The Affair of the Diamond Necklace was a mysterious incident in the 1780s at the court of Louis XVI of France involving his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette. The reputation of the Queen, which was already tarnished by gossip, was ruined by the implication that she had participated in a crime to defraud...

 involving Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....

.

Henri Louis eventually became the Grand Chamberlain of France
Grand Chamberlain of France
The Grand Chamberlain of France was one of the Great Officers of the Crown of France, a member of the Maison du Roi , and one of the Great Offices of the Maison du Roi during the Ancien Régime...

. The couple had five children.

Upon the death of his father in 1788, the duke inherited the title of prince de Guéméné. Afterwards, Victoire was known at court as Madame de Guéméné. She and her family lived lavishly in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 at the Hôtel de Rohan-Guéméné, located on the famous Place des Vosges
Place des Vosges
The Place des Vosges is the oldest planned square in Paris.It is located in the Marais district, and it straddles the dividing-line between the 3rd and 4th arrondissements of Paris.- History :...

. They lived at number 6. The couple had to sell the property in 1797 in order to pay off a huge debt of 33 million livres.

In 1775, Marie Louise de Lorraine, comtesse de Marsan (1720–1803) resigned the post of governess to the royal children in favour of Victoire, who was her niece. From 1778 to 1782, Victoire was in charge of the household of King Louis XVI's oldest child, Marie Thérèse of France, known at court as Madame Royale. In this role, she was in charge of a staff of over one hundred courtiers and servants.

In 1782, Victoire was forced to resign her post due to a scandal created by her husband's mounting debt, a debt that eventually led to the sale of the Hôtel de Rohan-Guémené after the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

. Victoire and her husband went on to various affairs with others.

She became the mistress of Augustin Gabriel de Franquetot de Coigny, comte de Coigny' (1740 - 1817), the father of one of her charges, Aimée de Franquetot de Coigny, duchesse de Fleury (1769 - 1820). Madame de Fleury inspired the famous poet André Chénier
André Chénier
André Marie Chénier was a French poet, associated with the events of the French Revolution of which he was a victim. His sensual, emotive poetry marks him as one of the precursors of the Romantic movement...

. The prince de Guéméné meanwhile had an affair with a Victoire's close friend, Thérèse Lucy de Dillon, comtesse de Dillon, (1751 - 1782), first wife of Arthur Dillon
Arthur Dillon (1750-1794)
*Biographie moderne, Paris Eymery Éditeur ;...

.

At the death of her father, her husband became the legal heir to the title Prince of Soubise.

Victoire and her husband lived to see the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

, later fleeing to Austria. They eventually settled in Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

. They lived at Sychrov Castle
Sychrov Castle
Sychrov Castle can be found near village Sychrov in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. It is unique example of Neo-Gothic castle from second half of 19th century. Large park surrounds the castle.-History:...

, and it was here that the Rohan Family lived for 125 years.

Victoire died in Paris in September 1807 at the age of sixty-three, having far outlived her older half-sister, Charlotte, who had died in 1760. Her husband, the prince, outlived her by two years.

Issue

  • Charlotte Victoire Joséphe Henriette de Rohan (17 November, 1761 - 15 December, 1771)
  • Charles Alain Gabriel de Rohan, Duke of Montbazon, Rohan and Guéméné; Prince of Guéméné
    Prince of Guéméné
    The fiefdom of Guéméné was bought on 26 May 1377, for 3,400 sous d'or by Jean de Rohan, Viscount of Rohan. From his second marriage to The fiefdom of Guéméné was bought on 26 May 1377, for 3,400 sous d'or by Jean de Rohan, Viscount of Rohan. From his second marriage to The fiefdom of Guéméné was...

     (Versailles, 18 January, 1764 - Paris, 24 April, 1836); married in 1781 Louise Aglae de Conflans d'Armentieres (1763 - 1819) and had issue.
  • Marie Louise Joséphine de Rohan (13 April, 1765 - Paris, 21 September, 1839); married in 1780 her cousin, Charles Louis Gaspard de Rohan, Duke of Montbazon (1765 - 1843) and had issue.
  • Louis Victor Meriadec de Rohan, Duke of Rohan and Bouillon (Paris, 20 July, 1766 - Czech Republic, 10 December, 1846); married in 1800 his niece, Berthe de Rohan (1782 - 1841) and had no issue.
  • Jules Armand Louis de Rohan (Versailles, 20 October, 1768 - Czech republic, 13 January, 1836); married in 1800 the wealthy heiress, Princess Wilhelmine Catherine Frédérique Biron von Kurland, Duchess of Sagan (1781 - 1839) and had no issue.

Ancestry



Titles and styles

  • 28 December 1743 – 15 January 1761 Her Highness Victoire Armande Josèphe, Princess of the House of Rohan
  • 15 January 1761 – 10 December 1788 Her Highness the Duchess of Montbazon
  • 10 December 1788 – 20 September 1807 Her Highness the Princess of Guéméné
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