Aumale, HENRI - EUGÈNE - PHILIPPE - LOUIS D'ORLEANS, DUC D'

Aumale, HENRI - EUGÈNE - PHILIPPE - LOUIS D'ORLEANS, DUC D', fourth son of King Louis-Philippe, was born at Paris, January 16, 1822. Educated at the college of Henri IV., at sixteen he entered the army, and two years later found himself in active service in Algeria, where he soon distinguished himself by his bravery, and passed rapidly through the various grades of rank. One of his most brilliant exploits was the surprise of Abd-el-Kader in May 1843. For this he was made lieutenant-general, and appointed to the government of the province of Constantine. In 1847 he succeeded Marshal Bugeaud in the governor-generalship of Algeria, but after the revolution of February 1848, laid down his office, and retired to England. In his exile he occupied himself with historical and military studies, and soon became known by his contributions to the Revue des Deux Mondes. A speech of Prince Napoleon in the senate against the Orleans family called forth in April 1861 his famous pamphlet, Lettre sur l'Histoire de France, in which the prince and Napoleon III. were subjected to a merciless castigation. His great historical work, Histoire des Princes de Condé (Paris, 1869), was published only after much difficulty. In the journal Étoile Belge there appeared (1865-66) a series of critical letters by him, under the pseudonym of 'Verax,' on the policy of the empire, and in 1867 his celebrated work, Les Institutions militaires de la France. On the outbreak of the Franco-German war, he offered his services, first to the emperor, afterwards to the provisional government, without being accepted by either, but in 1871 he was elected a member of the Assembly. In 1873 he presided over Marshal Bazaine's court-martial, and afterwards held several high commands, but was disqualified from further service in 1883. Elected a member of the Academy in 1871, in 1886 he bequeathed his magnificent château of Chantilly to the Institute of France. The decree expelling him from Paris was revoked in 1889. He died 6th May 1897, in consequence of the shock caused by the burning of his niece, the Duchess d'Alençon, at the Paris bazaar. His wife (née Marie Caroline Auguste de Bourbon, daughter of the Prince of Salerno) had died in 1867; as well as his two sons, the elder in 1866, the younger in 1872.