Emmanuel d'Albert, 11th Duke of Chaulnes


Emmanuel d'Albert, 11th Duke of Chaulnes was a French nobleman.

Early life

Born in Paris on 10 April 1878. He was the eldest son of Princess Sophie Galitzine, and Paul d'Albert, 10th Duke of Chaulnes and Picquigny, who both died young. His sister, Marie Thérèse d'Albert de Luynes, was married in 1894 to Louis de Crussol d'Uzès, 14th Duke of Uzès. After the early death of both of his parents, Emmanuel and his sister were brought up in the home of their aunt, Yolande the dowager Duchess of Luynes.
His father became the Duke of Chaulnes, because his father, Honoré-Louis d'Albert de Luynes, Duke of Chevreuse, predeceased his grandfather, Honoré Théodoric d'Albert de Luynes, 8th Duke of Luynes, of Chevreuse and of Chaulnes. His aunt, Marie Julie d'Albert de Luynes, was the wife of Elzéar de Sabran-Pontevès, 3rd Duke of Sabran, and his uncle was Charles Honoré Emmanuel d'Albert de Luynes, 9th Duke of Luynes. His maternal grandparents were Augustin Petrovitch, Prince Galitzine and Stéphanie Marie Bernadette Louise de la Roche Aymon, who owned the Château de Châtain in Arfeuille-Châtain.

Career

Upon his father's early death in 1881, three year old Emmanuel became the Duke of Chaulnes and Picquigny. He also used the courtesy title of Marquis of Dangeau.
The Duke was "a familiar figure in sporting circles" and was "well known for his interest in athletics and all forms or outdoor diversion." He was a member of the Cercle de la Rue Royale, Cercle Hoche, and of the Société Sportive de l'Ile de Puteaux.

Personal life

According to a 1907 profile in The New York Times, the Duke of Chaulnes was "good looking, amiable, well educated, and possessed of charming manners." He had a house in the 8th arrondissement of Paris and a hereditary château in the French department of Sarthe, but his income was small and it was reportedly well known in Paris that "for years he has been seeking a rich, American wife."
In 1902, his engagement was announced to American heiress Ena Gebhard, a daughter of prominent merchant William H. Gebhard. She had been living in Paris for a number of years. Ena was a cousin of Frederick Gebhard and Isabelle Gebhard Neilson. The engagement was broken off before they married however.
In 1906, another engagement to an American heiress was announced, this time to Theodora Mary Shonts of New York City. She was the youngest daughter of Theodore Perry Shonts, the President of the Panama Canal Commission who was then living at 1526 New Hampshire Avenue in Washington, D.C. They married on 16 February 1908 at 132 East 35th Street, the home of the bride's father in New York City. Less than three months after they married, the Duke died. Theodora gave birth to their son in November of the same year:
  • Emmanuel Théodore Bernard Marie d'Albert, 12th Duke of Chaulnes
Tragically, like his grandfather and father before him, the Duke of Chaulnes died young with all three men dying at or around thirty years old. Emmanuel died from heart failure, in the arms of his wife, on 24 April 1908 in his apartment in the Hotel Langham in the Rue du Boccador in Paris. The Duke was interred at his family's estate, Château de Dampierre, where Theodora spent the beginning of her widowhood. His widow lived another fifty-eight years until her death on 19 October 1966.