Charles de Rohan, duke of Rohan-Rohan, seigneur of Roberval, and marshal of France from 1758, was a military man, and a minister to the kings Louis XV and Louis XVI.
Background
The prince was born at Versailles on 16 January 1715, the son of Jules, Prince of Soubise, lieutenant captain of the gendarmes of the Royal Guard, and of Anne Julie Adélaïde de Melun. The eldest of five children, he was styled the Prince of Epinoy till his father"s death in 1724.
Career
The last male of his branch of the House of Rohan, he was also the great grandfather to the duc d"Enghien, executed by Napoleon in 1804. Styled prince d"Epinoy at birth, he became the Prince of Soubise after 1749. Soon after the beginning of the Seven Years" War, through the influence of Madame de Pompadour, he was put in command of a corps of 24,000 men, and in November 1757 he sustained the crushing defeat of Rossbach.
Along with the failure to hold Hanover following the Invasion of Hanover (1757) this marked a dramatic turnaround for French fortunes as just months before they have seemed on the brink of victory.
He was more fortunate, however, in his later military career, and continued in the service until the general peace of 1763, after which he lived the life of an ordinary courtier and man of fashion in Paris. "Soubise" also refers to a culinary dish with a sauce made with a rice and onion purée, named to compliment Charles de Rohan, prince of Soubise: see sauce Soubise.
Marriages Charles married three times: Titles and styles 16 July 1715 – 6 May 1724 His Highness the Prince of Epinoy 6 May 1724 – 4 July 1787 His Highness the Prince of Soubise.