France 5 Francs Silver Coin 1815 Vice-Admiral Philip d'Auvergne, Duke of Bouillon
Bust of British Vice-Admiral Philip d'Auvergne, Duke of Bouillon; his frizzy hair tied with a ribbon.
Legend: PHILIPPE D’AUVERGNE, below CH. WERDUN. F. (Engraver: Charles Wurden).
Reverse: Crowned shield, bearing the arms of the duchy of Bouillon, surrounded by laurel branches, crossed and tied.
Legend: DUC - SOUVERAIN DE BOUILLON // 1815 A.
Date: 1815.
Composition: Silver.
Fineness: 0.900.
Diameter: 37,63 mm.
Weight: 25.16 g.
Edge: Smooth.
Philippe d'Auvergne (13 November 1754 – 18 September 1816) was a British naval officer and the adopted son of Godefroy de La Tour d'Auvergne the sovereign Duke of Bouillon. He chose a career in the Royal Navy that spanned a period of history where Great Britain was at the centre of wars and empire building and took him from Boston and the War of Independence to espionage with French Royalists; prisoner of war to shipwrecked; all this whilst hoping to become a Walloon ruler or, at least, heir to a princely fortune.
Claims to the throne of Bouillon
First claim to throne of Bouillon
D'Auvergne lost the command of Jersey with the peace with France. His role was a wartime role, with peace came a Captain's half pay. He now spent his time in his house and gardens on Jersey, even opening the gardens to the public. His library contained 4,000 volumes, from scientific to classic, to French history. From 1792 he developed a neo-Gothic construction at La Hougue Bie known as the Prince's Tower. The mediaevalist architecture of the tower (originally to be called La Tour d'Auvergne as a symbolic motif of his adopted family name) supported both his claims to ancestry and his interest in fashionable architecture of the day.
His promotions raised him to Vice Admiral of the Red.
In Bouillon the French had annexed the Duchy of Bouillon in 1795, and Duke Godefroy III, died in 1794, his son Jacques Leopold La Tour d'Auvergne inherited the title of Duke. Jacques Leopold died on the 3 March 1802 without issue, and Philippe d'Auvergne used the full title and dignity of Duke after this date.
After the Peace of Amiens on 25 March 1802, d'Auvergne headed to Paris to fight a claim by another apparent heir, but on his arrival, the French police, knowing of his actions in Jersey, dragged him from his hotel without any charge, or any explanation and threw him in jail. Correspondence from Mr Merry, Ambassador in Paris, complains of the French authorities actions and states that d'Auvergne was held for five days, and when released was given only 24 hours to leave France, a near impossibility at that time. Questions were raised in Parliament, but no further action was taken as they did not wish to upset the latest peace.
D'Auvergne returned to Jersey. By 1802 the émigrés had been given a way to return home, as Napoleon Bonaparte had taken control of France, and granted the émigrés amnesty. Many signed the declaration offered and returned.
D'Auvergne continued to collect intelligence from France, including the buildup of forces at Brest, where Bonaparte was massing a force to assist the Irish in their fight against the British.
D'Auvergne's ring of spies was diminishing as either they were captured, or signed Napoleon's declaration.
Some of the spies continued to travel across the sea to France, and one was Noel Prigent, experienced in landing in France; he had journeyed across the sea over 150 times. In 1807 d'Auvergne was informed of the Chouans wanting to rise and rebel again, so Prigent and companions were sent to France to gain intelligence. On their arrival they found no signs of a possible uprising or even anyone willing to assist them. All the usual safe houses were closed to them. Prigent and his companions spent a number of weeks travelling around Brittany and living in ditches, and after a number of failed attempts to return to Jersey, one of the companions, Bouchard, gave himself up to the French. Bouchard then led the Secret Police to Prigent and his companions. As soon as Prigent was captured, he gave up every detail he knew about the correspondence, including landing places, codes and safe houses used by d'Auvergne's spies.
Bouchard then agreed to return to Jersey and persuade d'Auvergne that he was sent by Prigent. D'Auvergne welcomed him and sent Bouchard back to France with letters to General Puisaye, and further correspondence to Prigent. Bouchard had asked that Comte Vaucouleurs be despatched to France, and shortly afterwards he left for the French coast. He was arrested as soon as he landed. Armand de Chateaubriand followed in September 1808, but it was apparent that everyone was behind Napoleon. No-one would support Chateaubriand, and after a couple of failed attempts to return to Jersey, Chateaubriand was arrested and along with 10 other émigrés was shot. The efforts of Bouchard and Prigent to save their own lives also failed, as they were shot on Bonaparte's orders. Even the Comte d'Artois was indicating he should have sole control of the correspondence. Any hope of a new Royalist revolution was never going to materialise. D'Auvergne stood down from his role in 1812, possibly due to ill health, possibly aware of the next period of peace.
In 1814 the Comte d'Artois of the House of Bourbon, was proclaimed King Louis XVIII, and agreed to support d'Auvergne's claim to the Duchy of Bouillon, for all the support he had given to the Royalists over the last 20 years.
Second claim to the throne of Bouillon
The Treaty of Paris left the Congress of Vienna to rewrite the map of Europe, and a decision was made to form a buffer state, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, along the border of France. This meant there was no place for an independent principality.
Further complications came in the form of another claimant to the throne, Prince Charles de Rohan, a grandson of a half-sister of the old Duke. Things looked good as d'Auvergne had the backing of Lord Castlereagh, and the Congress had rejected a similar case.
With the return of Bonaparte and all Europe watching Waterloo, the Congress decided the King of the Netherlands should rule on the case, and left the ruling to the arbitrators and the King. Philippe d'Auvergne marched to war with a small regiment formed in the colours of Bouillon and whilst away Congress decided to uphold the claim by Rohan, the blood relation.
Death
Philippe d'Auvergne returned to London, bankrupt, owing £12,000 in Jersey alone. He committed suicide at Holmes' Hotel, London, on 18 September 1816; he was buried in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster.
An inventory of his house and library from the auction of his estate are held by the Jersey Archives. The Duchy of Bouillon remained in upheaval until 1825 when it was divided between the last Duke of Bourbon, the Prince de La Trémoille and the Princesse de Poix.
Philippe d'Auvergne died with the titles:
- Monsignor His Serene Highness Philippe d'Auvergne, by the Grace of God and the will of his people, Duc de Bouillon.
- Vicomte de Turenne.
- Duc d'Albert and de Chateau Thierry.
- Comte d'Auvergne.
- Comte d'Évreux et du bas Armagnac.
- Baron de la Tour, Oliergues, Maringues and Montgacon, Peer of France.
Most of these titles died with him.
Descendants
D'Auvergne fathered three illegitimate children by Mary Hepburn of St. Helier, Jersey, to whom he gave his name: Mary Ann Charlotte (b. 1794), married in 1815 to Sir Henry Prescott, later Admiral; Anne Elizabeth (b. 1800), married to Admiral John Aplin; and Philip, who died a midshipman on the HMS Africaine Colombo in 1815, and was buried 19 March 1815 at St Peters ("The Fort")