Henri Jules, Prince of Condé

Henri Jules
Prince of Condé

Henri Jules with his father, le Grand Condé
Born (1643-07-29)29 July 1643
Paris, France
Died 1 April 1709(1709-04-01) (aged 65)
Paris, France
Spouse Princess Palatine Anne of Bavaria
Issue Marie Thérèse, Princess of Conti
Louis, Prince of Condé
Anne Marie, Mademoiselle de Condé
Louise Bénédicte, Duchess of Maine
Marie Anne, Duchess of Vendôme
Full name
Henri Jules de Bourbon
House House of Bourbon / House of Condé
Father Louis le Grand Condé
Mother Claire-Clémence de Maillé
Religion Roman Catholicism
Signature

Henri Jules de Bourbon (Paris, 29 July 1643 – Paris, 1 April 1709) was prince de Condé, from 1686 to his death. At the end of his life he suffered from clinical lycanthropy and was considered insane.

Biography

Henri Jules was born to Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé and his wife in 1643. He was five years younger than King Louis XIV. He was the sole heir to the enormous Condé fortune and property. His mother, Princess Claire-Clémence de Maillé-Brézé was a niece of Cardinal Richelieu. He was baptised at the Église Saint-Sulpice, Paris on his day of birth. For the first three years of his life, while his father was duc d'Enghien, he was known at court as the duc d'Albret.

Henri Jules' four surviving daughters, Gobert.

Upon the death of his grandfather, he succeeded to his father's courtesy title of duc d'Enghien. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, he was born a prince du sang with the style of Monsieur le Duc.

Throughout much of his life, Henri Jules was mentally unstable. He was a short, ugly, debauched and brutal man not only "repulsive in appearance", but "cursed with so violent a temper that it was positively dangerous to contradict him".[1]

Trained as a soldier, in 1673, he was nominally put in charge of the Rhine front. This was in name only, though, because Henri Jules lacked the military skills of his father. He was well educated but had a malicious character. A possible bride who was considered for him at this time was his distant cousin, Élisabeth Marguerite d'Orléans, daughter of Gaston d'Orléans. However, a marriage did not materialise.

He eventually married the Princess Palatine Anne Henriette in the chapel of the Palais du Louvre, in Paris, in December 1663. The bride was the daughter of Edward, Prince Palatine. Her mother was the famous political hostess, Anna Gonzaga. The couple had ten children. The young princess was noted for her pious, generous and charitable nature. Many at court praised her for her very supportive attitude towards her disagreeable husband. Despite her good qualities, though, Henri Jules, who was prone to great rages, would often beat his quiet wife.

In addition, Henri Jules had an illegitimate daughter by Françoise-Charlotte de Montalais. The child, Julie de Bourbon, was known variously as Julie de Bourbon, Julie de Gheneni (anagram of Enghien, aka de Guenani) or Mademoiselle de Châteaubriant. She was legitimised in 1693 when she was twenty-five. She died on 10 March 1710, at the age of forty-three.

He was succeeded by his only son, Louis III, Prince of Condé.

Issue

Name Portrait Lifespan Notes
Marie Thérèse de Bourbon
Princess of Conti
1 February 1666 –
22 February 1732
Born in Paris and known as Mademoiselle de Bourbon in her youth, she married her cousin François Louis, Prince of Conti and had issue; she was briefly titular Queen of Poland in 1697.
Henri de Bourbon
Duke of Bourbon
5 November 1667
5 July 1670
Died in infancy.
Louis de Bourbon
Duke of Bourbon
Prince of Condé
10 November 1668
4 March 1710
Born in Paris, he became the heir apparent of his father on his brother's death in 1670; he married Louise-Françoise de Bourbon, légitimée de France a daughter of Louis XIV; the couple had issue.
Anne de Bourbon
Mademoiselle d’Enghien
11 November 1670
27 May 1675
Died in infancy.
Henri de Bourbon
Count of Clermont
3 July 1672
6 June 1675
Born at Saint-Germain-en-Laye and died in Paris.
Louis Henri de Bourbon
Count of La Marche
9 November 1673
21 February 1677
Born in Paris, he died at the age of 3 in the same city.
Anne Marie Victoire de Bourbon
Mademoiselle d'Enghien
Mademoiselle de Condé
11 August 1675
23 October 1700
Born in Paris, she died at the age of twenty-five at the Château Asnières.
Anne Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon
Duchess of Maine
8 November 1676
23 January 1753
Born in Paris, she was known as Mademoiselle d’Enghien and then Mademoiselle de Charolais during her youth; she married another illegitimate child of Louis XIV, Louis Auguste de Bourbon, duc du Maine; the couple had issue.
Marie Anne de Bourbon
Duchess of Vendôme
24 February 1678
11 April 1718
Born in Paris, she was known as Mademoiselle de Montmorency and then Mademoiselle d’Enghien during her youth; she married her cousin, Louis Joseph de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme; the couple had no issue and Marie Anne died at the Hôtel de Vendôme.
N de Bourbon
Mademoiselle de Clermont
17 July 1679
17 September 1680
Born and died in Paris.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

References

  1. 1 2 Williams, H. Noel (1912). "Love Affairs of the Condé family". Love Affairs of the Condé family. pp. 268–280.
Henri Jules, Prince of Condé
Born: 29 July 1643 Died: 11 April 1709
French nobility
Preceded by
Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé
Prince of Condé
11 November 1686 – 11 April 1709
Succeeded by
Louis III, Prince of Condé
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