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Marc Marie, Marquis de Bombelles

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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MARQUIS DE (1744-1822), French diplomatist and ecclesiastic, was the son of the comte de Bombelles, tutor and guardian of the duke of Orleans. He was born at Bitsch in Lorraine, and served in the army through the Seven Years' War. In 1765 he entered the diplomatic service, and after several diplomatic missions became ambassador of France to Portugal in 1786, being charged to win over that country to the Family Compact; but the madness of the queen and then the death of the king prevented his success. He was transferred to Vienna early in 1789, but the Revolution cut short his diplomatic career, and he was deprived of his post in September 1790. He remained attached to Louis XVI., and was employed on secret missions to other sovereigns, to gain their aid for Louis. In 1792 he emigrated, and after Valmy lived in retirement in Switzerland. In 1804, after the death of his wife, he withdrew to the monastery of Briinn in Austria, and became bishop of Oberglogau in Prussia. In 1815 he returned to France, and became bishop of Amiens (1819). He died in Paris in 1822.

His son, LOUIS PHILIPPE, comte de Bombelles (1780-1843), born at Regensburg, passed his life in the diplomatic service of Austria. In 1814 he became Austrian ambassador to Denmark, and in 1816 filled a similar position at Dresden. (E. Es.)