Quick Facts
- Born:
- Sept. 25, 1734, Paris, Fr.
- Died:
- Feb. 17, 1803, Ettenheim, Baden [Germany] (aged 68)
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Louis-René-Édouard, prince de Rohan
French cardinal
Louis-René-Édouard, prince de Rohan (born Sept. 25, 1734, Paris, Fr.—died Feb. 17, 1803, Ettenheim, Baden [Germany]) was a cardinal from 1778 and bishop of Strasbourg from 1779 to 1801, who was the antihero of the French scandal known as the Affair of the Diamond Necklace in 1785 (see Diamond Necklace, Affair of the). Duped into undertaking the purchase of a necklace for Queen Marie-Antoinette, without her authority and without funds of his own, he was tried for fraud and acquitted but was nevertheless exiled in disgrace from the French court, thus becoming a martyr in the eyes of the queen’s enemies and of the critics of royal absolutism.
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