Prosper Louis, 7th Duke of Arenberg
Encyclopedia
Prosper-Louis, 7th Duke of Arenberg (28 April 1785, Enghien
Enghien
Enghien is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut. On January 1, 2006 Enghien had a total population of 11,980. The total area is 40.59 km² which gives a population density of 295 inhabitants per km²....

 – 27 February 1861) was also the 13th Duke of Aarschot
Duke of Aarschot
The Duke of Aarschot was one of the most important titles in the Low Countries, named after the Flemish city of Aarschot. The title was held by the House of Croÿ and the House of Arenberg...

, 2nd Duke of Meppen
Meppen, Germany
Meppen is a town in and the seat of the Emsland district of Lower Saxony, Germany, at the confluence of the Ems, Hase, and Nordradde rivers and the Dortmund-Ems canal...

 and 2nd prince of Recklinghausen
Recklinghausen
Recklinghausen is the northernmost city in the Ruhr-Area and the capital of the Recklinghausen district. It borders the rural Münsterland and is characterized by large fields and farms in the north and industry in the south...

.

In 1801, Louis Engelbert, 6th Duke of Arenberg
Louis Engelbert, 6th Duke of Arenberg
Louis Engelbert, 6th Duke of Arenberg , nicknamed the blind duke, was between 1778 and 1801 the sixth Duke of Arenberg and 12th Duke of Aarschot...

, Prosper's father, lost the former Duchy of Arenberg on the left bank of the Rhine but received a larger duchy on the right bank in 1803.

In 1808 Arenberg married Stéphanie Tascher de La Pagerie a niece of Joséphine de Beauharnais
Joséphine de Beauharnais
Joséphine de Beauharnais was the first wife of Napoléon Bonaparte, and thus the first Empress of the French. Her first husband Alexandre de Beauharnais had been guillotined during the Reign of Terror, and she had been imprisoned in the Carmes prison until her release five days after Alexandre's...

 (Empress of the French Empire
First French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...

).

His wife was given the present Hotel de Chimay
Hôtel de Chimay
The Hôtel de Chimay is situated in the 6th arrondissement of Paris of Paris in France. It is located at 17 quai Malaquais. Once an Hôtel particulier, since 1883, it has been an extension of the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, a distinguished National School of Fine Arts.-History:The quai...

, known as the Hôtel de La Pagerie in Paris in 1808.

He was granted new lands by her husband Napoleon Bonaparte (expanding his holdings from 413 km² to 3,388 km²) and gained the additional titles of Duke of Meppen and Prince of Recklinghausen. He lost his sovereignty over his lands in 1810 when Arenberg
Arenberg
Arenberg, also spelled as Aremberg or Ahremberg, is a historic county, principality and finally duchy located in modern Germany. The Dukes of Arenberg remain a prominent Belgian aristocratic family.- History :...

  was mediatised
German Mediatisation
The German Mediatisation was the series of mediatisations and secularisations that occurred in Germany between 1795 and 1814, during the latter part of the era of the French Revolution and then the Napoleonic Era....

 into France but retain the style of HSH (His Serene Highness), which is still used by his descendant.

Arenberg was colonel of the Belgian Chevau-Légers d'Arenberg which fought in the Peninsular War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...

 and was wounded captured by the British at the Battle of Arroyo dos Molinos
Battle of Arroyo dos Molinos
The Battle of Arroyo dos Molinos took place on 28 October 1811 during the Peninsula War. An allied force under General Rowland Hill trapped and defeated, a French force under General Jean-Baptiste Girard, forcing the latter's dismissal by the Emperor Napoleon...

 on 28 October 1811.

Arenberg took no part in the 1815 Waterloo Campaign other than to attend the Duchess of Richmond's ball
Duchess of Richmond's ball
The Duchess of Richmond's ball was held in Brussels on 15 June 1815, the night before the Battle of Quatre Bras. The Duchess's husband Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond was in command of a reserve force in Brussels, which was protecting that city in case Napoleon Bonaparte invaded.Elizabeth...

, but his contacts among the British did not save his lands which were lost when they were overrun by the Prussians and the Hanoverians. In 1816 he divorced his first wife and married again in 1819 to Princess Maria-Ludmille de Lobkowicz
Lobkowicz
The Lobkowicz family is one of the oldest still existing Bohemian noble families dating back to the 14th century...

. Maria-Ludmille and Arenberg had seven children, the third eldest and the first boy Engelbert Auguste
Engelbert, 8th Duke of Arenberg
Engelbert August Anton of Arenberg was 8th Duke of Arenberg and 14th Duke of Aarschot...

, inherited his father's titles becoming the 8th Duke of Arenberg.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK