Charles Honoré d'Albert, duc de Luynes, de Chaulnes et de Chevreuse
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Charles Honoré d'Albert, duc de Luynes, de Chaulnes et de Chevreuse (1646 - 1712), more simply known as the duc de Chevreuse, was a high-ranking French official under King Louis XIV.
The duc de Chevreuse was the grandson of the duchesse de Chevreuse, one of the leading members of the Fronde, and the son-in-law of Colbert.
His younger half sister was Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes, the mistress of Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia.
The duc de Chevreuse was a private advisor of Louis XIV, and a sort of unofficial minister without portfolio. From 1698 until 1712 he was the non-residing governor of the province of Guienne (from the time of Louis XIV onwards the governorship of French provinces was essentially an honorific title and governors were not allowed to reside or even penetrate in their provinces). Friend of the duc de Beauvilliers and of the famous archbishop Fénelon, he maintained a steady exchange of correspondence with the latter. It is at the duc de Chevreuse's estate in Chaulnes (Somme département) that Fénelon wrote his Tables de Chaulnes (1711).
Along with his friends, the duc de Chevreuse was a reformist in the circle of the duc de Bourgogne, grandson of Louis XIV and heir to the throne, advocating a less centralized and absolute monarchy relying more on the aristocracy. His ideas were briefly applied after 1715 (see polysynody), although he did not live long enough to see it.
He died in Paris in 1712.
