Charlotte d'Argenteau, Countess d'Esneux (18 October 167823 July 1710), a Belgian patrician heiress, was the beloved second wife of the English Jacobite exile

Thomas Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury Thomas Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury (later styled Aylesbury) and 3rd Earl of Elgin (1656 – 16 December 1741), styled Lord Bruce between 1663 and 1685, was an English politician and memoirist. He was the son of Robert Bruce, 2nd Earl of Elgin, ...

Life

The only surviving child of Louis Conrad d'Argenteau, Count d'

Esneux Esneux (; wa, Esneu) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 Esneux had a total population of 13,072. The total area is which gives a population density of 384 inhabitants per km². The mun ...

, and Marie Ghisberte de Locquenghien, Charlotte d'Argenteau met Lord Ailesbury when she was 21 and living in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium, with her widowed mother. Brussels gossip had it that despite her many good qualities she would probably never marry, due to her having a small dowry, and her mother an appalling temper.Chapman, Hester ''Privileged Persons'' Baylis and Son London 1966 Within a short time of meeting her Ailesbury fell in love, and it seems his feelings were returned; friends however warned Ailesbury that Charlotte's mother would probably make difficulties. The Countess duly did so, and arguably on this occasion, she was not acting unreasonably. Ailesbury was after all more than 20 years older than Charlotte; more importantly, he had fled England to avoid being condemned to death as a

traitor Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

. Though the

British Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

made no effort to

extradite Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdic ...

him, and had not seized his estates, he was only able to draw part of the rents from them. Eventually, he overcame his future mother-in-law's objections, although it is clear from his memoirs that he disliked her intensely. Ailesbury, Thomas Bruce, Earl of ''Memoirs'' Edited by W. E. Buckley London 1890 The marriage was very happy. 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 Lady Elizabeth Seymour, wrote of his second wife that "there was scarce her equal in goodness and sweetness and generous to the last degree"; although he could resist the gibe that she was "the reverse of her mother". Charlotte's stepchildren,

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

and Elizabeth, became deeply attached to her and she had one daughter of her own:Cokayne ''Complete Peerage'' Lady Marie Thérèse Charlotte Bruce, born in 1704. Ailesbury 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 do so. After ten years of marriage, Charlotte died of a fever in July 1710, aged 31, and was buried in the Church of the Brigittines, Brussels. Ailesbury was deeply grieved, and though he outlived her by 30 years he never made a third marriage. Their daughter Marie Thérèse became the wife of

Maximilian, Prince of Hornes Maximilian Emanuel, 3rd Prince of Hornes, Count of Baucignies and of Solre-le-Château (31 August 1695, Brussels – 12 January 1763, Brussels), was a nobleman and Grand Huntsman of Brabant. His father was Philippe Emanuel, 2nd Prince of Hornes, ...

, and among Charlotte's great-grandchildren was

Princess Louise of Stolberg-Gedern Princess Louise Maximiliane Caroline Emanuel of Stolberg-Gedern (20 September 1752 – 29 January 1824) was the wife of Charles Edward Stuart, the Jacobite claimant to the English and Scottish thrones. The unhappy marriage led her to request fro ...

(the Jacobite consort from 1772 to 1788).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Argenteau, Charlotte, comtesse d'Esneux 1678 births 1710 deaths Nobility of the Spanish Netherlands Nobility of the Austrian Netherlands Nobility from Brussels Ailesbury Elgin Women of the Austrian Netherlands