Auguste Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angély
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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...
- 1 February, 1870 Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
) was a Marshal of France
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
, soldier and politician.
The illegitimate son of Michel-Louis-Étienne, Count Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angély
Michel-Louis-Étienne Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angély
Michel Louis Étienne Regnaud, later 1st Count Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angély was a French politician.-Early activities:...
, and of his mistress Marie-Louise Chenié, who died shortly after his birth, he was recognised by his father some months later and adopted by the latter's wife in 1795.
Regnaud served as a lieutenant in a regiment of hussars during the campaign of Saxe in 1813. He fought at the Battle of Leipzig
Battle of Leipzig
The Battle of Leipzig or Battle of the Nations, on 16–19 October 1813, was fought by the coalition armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden against the French army of Napoleon. Napoleon's army also contained Polish and Italian troops as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine...
, after which he became a member of Emperor Napoleon
Napoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
's personal military staff.
As he had served as a personalofficier d'ordonnance to the Emperor at Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
, he was dismissed from the army by the Restoration government with the rank of lieutenant. In 1825, he went to Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, fought in the war of independence and was in charge of the instruction of a cavalry corps in the new Greek army. In 1828, he took part in the Morea expedition
Morea expedition
The Morea expedition is the name given in France to the land intervention of the French Army in the Peloponnese, between 1828 and 1833, at the time of the Greek War of Independence....
of the French army as an interpreter. He was promoted to the rank of captain in 1829.
During the July Monarchy
July Monarchy
The July Monarchy , officially the Kingdom of France , was a period of liberal constitutional monarchy in France under King Louis-Philippe starting with the July Revolution of 1830 and ending with the Revolution of 1848...
, Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angély served as a colonel in the expedition to Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. He was promoted to général de brigade in 1841 and to général de division in 1849. In 1848, he was elected deputy and sat on the right. In 1851, he served for a fortnight as minister of war. In 1852, he backed Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte and, as a reward, he was made a senator for life. Under the Second Empire
Second French Empire
The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...
, he went through the Crimean
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
and Italian campaigns, and ultimately was created Marshal of France
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
in 1859 for bravery at the Battle of Magenta
Battle of Magenta
The Battle of Magenta was fought on June 4, 1859 during the Second Italian War of Independence, resulting in a French-Sardinian victory under Napoleon III against the Austrians under Marshal Ferencz Gyulai....
.
Marshal Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angély married Anne-Angélique Ruby, who bore him no children. He adopted her daughter from a previous marriage, Flore-Angélique Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angély.
Since his father never married his mother (who died some months after the redaction of a marriage contract), Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angély had not been able to succeed to his title of count. Notwithstanding, Napoléon III granted him the title again in November 1864, with the special permission to pass it at his death to the husband of his adoptive daughter, Edmond Davillier. The latter took the surname "Davillier-Regnaud de Saint-Jean-d'Angély" and was confirmed in the succession of the title of count at the death of his father-in-law. However, it became extinct at his own death in 1908 since he had only a daughter from his marriage with the Marshal's stepdaughter.
Marshal Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angély died in Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
in 1870 and was buried in the Hôtel des Invalides
Les Invalides
Les Invalides , officially known as L'Hôtel national des Invalides , is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building's...
in Paris.