Louis Auguste Le Tonnelier de Breteuil

Louis Charles Auguste le Tonnelier, baron de Breteuil, baron de Preuilly was born in 1730 into an aristocratic family.  He was able to gain a good education and joined the army where he fought in the Seven Year War.  He would then have a series of positions in the foreign office ranging from ambassador to Russia and to the Kingdom of Naples.

When he returned to France he was made Minister of the King's Household.  In this position he was able to relieve some of the very strenuous censorship laws that present in France at the time.  His timing was unfortunate as he then had to deal with the Affair of the Necklace where Marie Antoinette and Cardinal de Rohan were duped by a well-crafted plan.  When news of this farce reached the public many were quick to blame Marie Antoinette via the medium of the newly free press.  Breteuil believed he had no option but to resign which he did in 1788.  His time outside the whirl of politics was short lived however.  He was convinced by those close to Marie Antoinette to return to Paris as a replacement for Jacques Necker.  This move however was very unpopular amongst the people of Paris and led directly to the storming of the Bastille on the 14th July 1789.

Sensing the danger he was in he fled France for Switzerland.  His importance to Marie Antoinette however did not end as he was declared Prime Minister in Exile.  He was given powers to negotiate with the sovereigns of Europe on behalf of Louis XVI.  When the situation worsened for the Royal Family Breteuil was key to the planning of the fleeing from France which became known as the Flight to Varennes.  The failure of this enterprise led to the trial and subsequent execution of Louis and Marie Antoinette.

Breteuil was never popular with the Louis’ brothers in exile and never regained his previous power.  He was allowed to return to France by Napoleon in 1802 where he would die in 1807.