Adam Albert von Neipperg Adam Albert , Count von Neipperg ( 8 April 1775 – 22 February 1829 ) was an Austrian general and statesman . The son of a diplomat , famous for inventing a letter - copying machine , and a French mother , he was the grandson of Wilhelm Reinhard von Neipperg . Early life . Adam Neipperg was born in Vienna as a son of Count Leopold von Neipperg and his fourth wife Countess Marie Wilhelmine from the House of Hatzfeld - Wildenburg . At the age of fifteen , Neipperg enlisted in the French army at Strasbourg but , in 1790 , he joined the ranks of the Austrians . In 1794 , at Dolens , he received such serious bayonet wounds that he was left for dead on the battlefield ; he lost his right eye in this battle . The following day , while burying the dead , the French found him still breathing and hospitalised him . Speaking French rather too well , he was assumed to be a traitor and sentenced to be shot once his health had returned . However , his convalescence was lengthy : by the time he recovered , the command having changed , he became part of a prisoner exchange . He also participated in the Blockade of Mayence . Neipperg then rejoined the Austrian army in Italy and took part in the Battle of Marengo in 1800 . Diplomat and General . In 1809 , after the Austrian campaign , he was appointed ambassador to Sweden and encouraged Bernadotte to enter in the coalition which was formed in 1813 . In reward for this service , he was decorated by the Swedish king . Neipperg rejoined the Austrian army and fought at Leipzig where he distinguished himself sufficiently to be appointed as lieutenant field marshal . In 1814 , Klemens von Metternich sent him to negotiate with the King of Naples , Joachim Murat , who signed a secret treaty with Austria in order to keep his throne . Metternich ' s other intrigue was to try to distance Prince Eugene ( son - in - law of the King of Bavaria and stepson of Napoleon Bonaparte ) from the French . By negotiating with Murat , Neipperg was again playing the role of an agent in treason after the Peace of Fontainebleau . Marriages . Neipperg married Theresia , Gräfin von Pola ( 1778 - 1815 ) in 1806 and they had four sons . The senior male heirs still live at Schwaigern in Germany . In August 1814 , he was instructed to escort Napoleon ' s wife , the Empress Marie Louise , to Aix - les - Bains to take the waters . However , the true purpose of his mission was to prevent the Empress from joining Napoleon in exile in Elba . Neipperg , who had understood this perfectly , said on leaving : " In six weeks , I will be her best friend and in six months her lover " . He did not need that long , Marie - Louise soon fell into his arms and talk of Elba never arose again . When Napoleon returned from exile , Murat once again allied with his Emperor triggering the Neapolitan War . Neipperg commanded a corps during the war and played a crucial role in the decisive Battle of Tolentino despite not participating in the battle . In 1815 , he participated in the short occupation of France . In July 1815 , as the Austrian army crossed the Rhone , he took the command of the troops in the French departments of Gard , Ardèche and Hérault . He was under the supervision of the field marshal de Bianchi , commanding the Austrian army in the south of France . He lived in Nîmes and left the city with the rest of the troops on September 14 , 1815 . Four months after the death of Napoleon in 1821 , he married Marie - Louise in a morganatic marriage . She had become Duchess of Parma , Piacenza and Guastalla in the final act of the Congress of Vienna on 9 June 1815 . From this union , three children were born , the first two before the marriage , whilst Marie - Louise was still legally married to Napoleon : Neipperg died in Parma . The descendants of his second family died out in the male line in 1951 .