Duke of Mouchy


Duke of Mouchy was a hereditary title in the Spanish nobility, accompanied by the dignity of Grandee and granted in 1747 by Ferdinand VI to Philippe [de Noailles (1715–1794)|Philippe de Noailles], a French military officer. After failure of the 1st Duke's successors in inheriting the dukedom through the established legal procedures, the title expired in the Kingdom of Spain. Withal, it was bestowed by Louis XVIII on the eldest son of the 1st Duke in 1817 as a title in the French peerage.
The Dukedom of Mouchy has since been held by members of a cadet branch of the Noailles family. Owing to the political system of France, a republic, the title is unrecognised. The title could have nonetheless been rehabilitated legally in Spain prior to 1988, when a legal reform was made prohibiting titles with more than forty years of disuse from being revived.

Prince and Duke of Poix

The founder of the branch, Philippe de Noailles, comte de Noailles, was a younger brother of Louis, 4th duc de Noailles. He was recognized "principe" de Poix in 1729 by King Philip V of Spain. That same year his aunt-in-law Marguerite-Thérèse Rouillé, duchesse de Richelieu, had died, leaving to Philippe the lands of the principality of Poix. It is unknown how many more subsequent holders of this title existed legally in Spain because the Spanish nobility used princely title only for the Heir to the throne, the Prince of Asturias.
The princely title was recognized by King Louis XV of France in 1765. The title became Duke of Poix in 1767 and in 1819 it was recognized in France as an hereditary "double" title but usually Prince of Poix is the title for the heir.

Dukes of Mouchy (France, 1817)

Philippe Louis Marc Antoine, comte de Noailles and Prince of Poix, elder surviving son of the 1st Spanish duque de Mouchy was made duc de Mouchy and a peer of France in 1817 by King Louis XVIII and so a member of the Chamber of Peers.
From the creation of the French peerage, the holders have been:
The unrecognised titleholders since the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870 are:

Noailles

As a male-line descendant of the 3rd Duke of Noailles, the Duke of Mouchy is also in remainder to this peerage and to the title of Duke of Ayen.