Charlotte d'Argenteau, comtesse d'Esneux

Charlotte d"Argenteau, comtesse d'Esneux (1678-1710 ) was a Belgian noblewoman who married as his second wife the exiled Jacobite noble Thomas Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury.

Life

She was the only surviving child of Louis Conrad d"Argenteau, comte d'Esneux and Marie de Locquenghien. When she met Ailesbury she was twenty-one and living in Brussels with her widowed mother. Brussels gossip said that despite her good qualities she might never marry, due to a small dowry and her mother's appalling temper.^[1] Ailesbury within a short time of meeting her fell in love, and it seems his feelings were returned; friends however warned that Charlotte's mother would probably make difficulties.^[2]The Countess did so, and perhaps not unreasonably: Ailesbury was more than twenty years older than Charlotte; more important he had fled England to avoid being condemned as a traitor and though the Crown had not seized his estates he was only able to draw part of the revenue. Eventually he overcame his future mother-in-law's objections, although it is clear from his memoirs that he disliked her intensely.^[3]

The marriage was very happy: Charlotte's stepchildren, Charles and Elizabeth Bruce, became deeply attached to her and she had one daughter of her own. Her husband settled in Brussels so happily that when in time the English government made it clear that he could return home, he no longer had any wish to. Tragically, after only ten years of marriage, Charlotte died of a fever in July 1710,^[4] aged thirty-one, and was buried in the Church of the Brigittines, Brussels. Ailesbury was deeply grieved, and though he outlived her by thirty years never remarried.

Character

Charlotte was described as " a noble and virtuous lady, born to make anyone happy". In his memoirs her husband, who rarely spoke of his first wife Elizabeth, wrote of his second wife that "there was scarce her equal in goodness and sweetness and generous to the last degree"; although he cannot resist the gibe that she was " the reverse of her mother".^[5]

Descendants

Charlotte and Ailesbury had one daughter:^[6]

Lady Marie Therese Charlotte Bruce ( 1704-1736 ) who married Maximilian, Prince of Hornes. They had two daughters; among their grandchildren was Louise of Stolberg-Gedern, who made an ill-fated marriage to the Young Pretender, Charles Edward Stuart.

References

1. ^ Chapman, Hester Privileged Persons Baylis and Son London 1966
2. ^ Chapman Privileged Persons
3. ^ Ailesbury,Earl of Memoirs Edited by W.E. Buckley London 1890
4. ^ Chapman
5. ^ Ailesbury Memoirs
6. ^ Cockayne Complete Peerage