Background
Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry was born on January 24, 1778 at Versailles, France; the younger son of Charles X of France.
Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry was born on January 24, 1778 at Versailles, France; the younger son of Charles X of France.
At the Revolution Berry left France with his father, then comte d'Artois, and served in the army of Conde from 1792 to 1797. He afterwards joined the Russian army, and in 1801 took up his residence in England, where he remained for thirteen years. His frank, open manners gained him some favour with his countrymen, and Louis XVIII named him commander-in-chief of the army at Paris on the return of Napoleon from Elba. He was, however, unable to retain the loyalty of his troops, and retired to Ghent during the Hundred Days. On the 13th of February 1820 he was mortally wounded, when leaving the opera-house at Paris with his wife, by a saddler named Louis Pierre Louvel. Seven months after his death the duchess gave birth to a son, who received the title of duke of Bordeaux.
He married an Englishwoman, Anna Brown, by whom he had two daughters, afterwards the baronne de Charette and the comtesse de Lucinge-Faucigny. The marriage was cancelled for political reasons in 1814, when the duke set out for France. In 1816 he married the princess Caroline Ferdinande Louise (1798- 1870), eldest daughter of King Francis I of Naples.
