Mary Auguste O'Neill
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Mary Auguste O'Neill was the daughter of Louis Jacques Tiburce O'Neill, 7th Comte de Tyrone. This O'Neill family was descendant from the O'Neill Mor line of Conn O'Neill, 1st Earl of Tyrone, and last king of Ulster Ireland. The title "Count of Tyrone" was created in 1621 as a Spanish Netherlands title by the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain and the Netherlands, for Patrick O'Neill, the second son of Sean O'Neill, the 3rd Earl of O'Neill (some say 4th Earl). Sean was the son of "Red" Hugh O'Neill, 3rd Earl of Tyrone and famous for the Flight of the Earls.
At the time of the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Patrick, his cousin General Eoghan or Owen Roe O'Neill, and many of the other family members serving in Continental armies returned to Ireland and fought in the Irish Confederate Wars (1641-53). However Owen Roe's death in 1649 and the eventual defeatof the Irish during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649-1653, caused Patrick to leave Ireland and to take up arms for the French king. Patrick's son James (2nd Comte de Tyrone) received lands and permanently moved his family to the island of Martinique. For about 200 years, the Counts of Tyrone lived peacefully in Martinique. Sons served as officers in Dillon's Irish Regiment, in the Irish Brigade (French) Army. The second sons of the Count were given the courtesy style of Vicomte de Tyrone. Jean Laurent O'Neill and Francois Henri O'Neill were the 1st and 2nd such holders. Both were officers in Dillon's Regiment.
Louis O'Neill had no sons, so the title was passed to his brother, Francois Henri- 8th Comte de Tyrone. He died without issue after 1887 and the title went into dormancy for a lengthy period, but left in the care of Mary Auguste Eugenia Valentine O'Neill. Mary married Herman, Baron of Bodman, who was of the Grand Dukes of Baden. Politics of post WWI outsted the Baden Royal Family and the family lived a quiet life.
The title, by law, was thus returned to the Spanish royal family as it was their original grant. However, the right to restore the title was removed to the Vatican during the Spanish Civil War due to the exile of the Spanish king. Genealogical work started in 1937, petitions were made, and after years of research and study, in 2006, the Vatican Secretariate of State restored the title of Count and gave territorial reference to a closely related line that also descends in the male from Conn Bacach O'Neill, 1st Earl of Tyrone. The present holder is now titled in Latin Comes Jacobo de Tyrone.
