Duke of Enghien

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The title of Duke of Enghien (or Duke d'Enghien, or Duc d'Enghien) may, like many noble titles, refer to any of several historical figures.

[edit] Dukes of Enghien - first creation (1566-1569)

The title was first conferred on Louis, Duke of Enghien, whose County of Enghien in modern-day Belgium was elevated to a duchy-peerage in 1566. However, the necessary registration process was not completed, so the title became extinct at his death in 1569.

[edit] Dukes of Enghien - second creation (1689-1830)

His grandson Henry II, Prince of Condé inherited the Duchy of Montmorency near Paris in 1633, and in 1689 the Duchy of Montmorency was renamed as Duchy of Enghien for his son Louis II, Prince of Condé. The title Duke of Enghien was thereafter used as a courtesy title for the eldest son of the Prince of Condé.

Most often it refers to Louis Anthony Henry, Duke of Enghien (1772-1804), the son of Louis Henry II, whose execution on trumped-up charges in 1804 during the French Consulate removed any hope of reconciliation between Napoleon Bonaparte and the House of Bourbon. The duke was executed in the moat of the Chateau de Vincennes.

On the death of the last duke in 1830, the title passed to Louis Philippe III, Duke of Orléans, a great-great-grandson of the Louis I, Duke of Enghien through the female line. He had become King of the French as Louis Philippe I a month earlier.

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