Catherine de Rohan

**Marie** **Catherine de Rohan** (1739-), was the youngest daughter of Louis and Alexandrine de Rohan, Comte and Comtesse de Rohan. She was known for being the first wife of the Comte d'Artois before their marriage was annulled, after which the Comte d'Artois married a commoner, Jeanne Becu.

## Catherine de Rohan

### Born:

15 May 1739Hôtel de Rohan, Paris, Île-de-France, Kingdom of France

### Spouse:

Charles X d'Artois, Comte d'Artois(m. 1755; annulled 1765)

## Early Life

The Rohan family, famous for it's ambition, were a constant presence at Court. Catherine, along with her siblings Anne Therese Marie and Alexandre Joseph Louis, grew up quite close to each other. Sadly, Anne Therese Marie de Rohan died in 1751 from illness.

## Marriage to Charles d'Artois

In 1754, Catherine was engaged to Charles d'Artois, youngest son of the Comte d'Artois. They both met a few times during their courting period but were still only acquaintances the day of their wedding. In 1755, they married in Paris.

### In Arras

After they were married, Catherine and Charles moved into the Chateau de Varlemont near Arras. Used to the excitement of Court and of Paris, she did not enjoy living the life of a provincial noble. This left her in a state of constant boredom due to the fact she away from her friends and family.

#### The Murder of the Comte d'Artois

A month into her marriage, her father-in-law, the Comte d'Artois, passed away from illness. She was superstitious of Charles, who was in an oddly good mood. Charles eventually told Catherine that he poisoned his father after constantly asking questions and told her why.

### In Versailles

Shorly after her father-in-law's death, she convinced Charles to leave Arras to establish himself at Court as the Comte d'Artois before his brother decided to come back to France. As her rank at convinced Charles to apply for Honors and to be presented so they could establish themselves firmly.

#### Death of the Dowager Comtesse d'Artois

About a week after arriving at Court, his mother committed suicide at the Chateau de Calais. Despite Charles's attempts to keep it hidden, the Court quickly caught on. Charles went through with everything Catherine wanted him to go through, like his presentation to the King that was scheduled a few days later.

After this Charles began to seclude himself, avoiding conversations about it and drinking hard liquor more than he did before. During this time Catherine did not have femme de chambres that knew what discretion was so their arguments about this became public knowledge. After a few months, Charles started speaking to her more especially after the death of her own father.

Due to rumors about his marriage, his mother, and himself coming back to him, he became more paranoid about the people at Court's intentions. Charles even fired Catherine's femme de chambres and replaced them with his cousins, Victoire and Henriette Arouet. Charles began to show irritation and anger toward his fellow courtiers publicly and refused to speak to his peers, which upset Catherine as she cared about propriety and her reputation. Charles also rejected any ideas of advancing himself in Court, which contradicted her ambition as her rank was dependent on her husband's.

If fact, he did the opposite. Any questions about his sanity were answered due to his entire disregard for etiquette or propriety and his at times erratic behavior. Someone hell bent on destroying his reputation did not suit well for someone who cared deeply for hers. Charles would leave Court for long periods of time that ranged for a few days to a month, which sparked rumors of separation or that he was seeing someone else. Catherine learned that he had a mistress when she heard from a friend that he was seen with an unknown woman at the Opera, who was Jeanne Becu.

### Annulment

Charles had a conversation with Catherine in 1760 about ending their marriage, which shocked her but she eventually went along with. They did not separate the years it took for their annulment to be granted and attended court events together. Catherine left court when she learned her brother was sick and their marriage was annulled due to an unpaid dowry in 1765. Charles gave back her the first part of her dowry, a house his family owned in Boulogne-Sur-Mer which she did not want, and gave her money every month which she did not need. They were still on good terms after their annulment but was angry that he failed to tell her he would get married to his commoner mistress. There were many in Court that believed she was the real wife of the Comte d'Artois as many did not think they had cause for annulment.

## Titles and Styles

**15 May 1739- October 1756** *Mademoiselle Catherine de Rohan*

**October 1756- 30 November 1756** *Her Grace, The Vicomtesse d'Artois*

**30** **November 1756- 1765** *Her Grace, The Comtesse d'Artois et Comtesse d'Eu*

**1765-Present** *Mademoiselle de Rohan*