in 1814,
Battle of Laon,
Napoleon returning with his three generals from left to right,
Michel Ney,
Louis-Alexandre Berthier, and Charles, comte de Flahaut He was born in Paris, officially the son of
maréchal de camp Charles-François de Flahaut de La Billarderie, comte de Flahaut (second son of
Charles-César, marquis de La Billarderie) who was guillotined at
Arras in February 1793, and his wife,
Adélaïde Filleul. The first wife of his father was Françoise-Louise Poisson, sister of the
Marquise de Pompadour of
Château de Menars. However, Charles de Flahaut was generally recognized to be the offspring of his mother's liaison with
Talleyrand, with whom he was closely connected throughout his life. His mother took him with her into exile in 1792, and they remained abroad until 1798, moving from England to Switzerland (where she is rumoured to have "become involved" with
Louis-Philippe, then Duke of Orleans), before Hamburg where she met her second husband, Ambassador
Dom José Maria do Carmo de Sousa Botelho Mourão e Vasconcelos,
5.º Morgado de Mateus. Charles de Flahaut volunteered for military service joining the
cavalry in 1800, and received his army commission after the
Battle of Marengo. He was appointed
Aide-de-camp to
Joachim Murat, 1st Prince Murat, was present at the
Battle of Austerlitz, and was wounded at the
Battle of Landbach in 1805. At the same time, Flahaut was involved in a liaison with Napoleon's younger sister,
Caroline Bonaparte. At
Warsaw he met
Anne Poniatowska, Countess Potocka with whom he quickly became intimate. After the
Battle of Friedland, he was awarded the
Legion of Honour and returned to Paris in 1807. He served in
Spain in 1808, and then in Germany, reaching the rank of Colonel in that campaign. After the
Battle of Wagram, general
Louis-Alexandre Berthier made him his Aide-de-camp, leaving the staff of Murat, and awarded him the empty title of
Baron of the Empire. Meanwhile, the Countess Potocka had established herself in Paris, but Flahaut had by this time entered into a relationship with
Hortense de Beauharnais, wife of Emperor Napoleon's younger brother and King of Holland
Louis Bonaparte; the birth of their son was registered in Paris on 21 October 1811 as Charles-Auguste-Louis-Joseph Demorny, later created
Duc de Morny. Hortense was the daughter of
Empress Josephine, and stepdaughter and sister-in-law of
Napoleon. Flahaut fought with distinction in the
Russian Campaign of 1812 and took part in the
French occupation of Moscow. In 1813, he was appointed
Brigadier-General and
Aide-de-camp to
Emperor Napoleon, being promoted, after the
Battle of Leipzig, as a
Général de division and
Adjutant general. In 1813, he was selected to meet the King of Saxony and conduct him to his capital. After the
Battle of Dresden, he was made Count by Napoleon, and fought at the
Battle of Hanau against the Bavarians. After Napoleon's abdication in 1814, he submitted to the
new French government, but was placed on the retired list in September. He refused to betray Napoleon despite the efforts of the Bourbons to rally him in their service. Flahaut was assiduous in his attendance on Queen
Hortense de Beauharnais until the
Hundred Days brought him back into active service. With the return of Napoleon from the island of Elba, Flahaut joined his campaign to Paris and was placed in charge of reforming the army to the Emperor's standard. A mission to
Vienna to secure the return of
Empress Marie-Louise of the
House of Habsburg-Lorraine resulted in failure. He was present at the
Battle of Waterloo (as an
Aide-de-camp to Napoleon), and afterwards sought to place
Napoleon II on the throne. He was spared exile due to an intervention by
Talleyrand, but was placed under police surveillance. Flahaut then chose to leave for Germany, and thence to
Britain. The Flahauts returned to France in 1827 and, in 1830, King
Louis-Philippe of the
House of Bourbon-Orléans promoted the
Count to the rank of
Lieutenant-General as well as creating him a
Peer of France. He remained a staunch supporter of Talleyrand's policies, and in 1831 served briefly as French Ambassador to
Berlin. Subsequently, he was attached to the
household of
Ferdinand-Philippe of France, Duke of Orléans and, in 1841, was posted as Ambassador to Vienna, where he remained until 1848, when he was dismissed and retired from
army service. After the
''Coup d'état'' of 1851 by Napoleon III, his services were re-engaged, and from 1860 to 1862 he served in Britain as
French Ambassador to the
Court of St James's under
Queen Victoria. of the
Legion of Honour In 1852, he became a Senator of the
Second French Empire, and in 1854, he became a member of the Commission appointed to edit the works of
Napoleon I. In 1864, the Flahauts returned to Paris and took up residence at the
Hôtel de Salm, when Charles was appointed
Grand Chancellor of the
Legion of Honour. He died in Paris on 1 September 1870. In the opinion of the unnamed author of a biography on Flahaut in the
Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition: "The comte de Flahaut is perhaps better remembered for his exploits in gallantry, and the elegant manners in which he had been carefully trained by his mother, than for his public services, which were not, however, so inconsiderable as they have sometimes been represented to be". ==Family==