Order of the Holy Spirit Collar of the Édouard de Fitz-James, 6th Duke of Fitz-James

This collar belonged to Édouard de Fitz-James, 6th Duke of Fitz-James (1776-1838). Delivered for the coronation of Charles X in 1825. Made by the workshop of Jean-Charles Cahier (1772-1849) /Goldsmith to the King Louis XVIII and later to Charles X, Cahier notably provided the religious goldsmith for the latter's coronation. Awarded a gold medal at the 1819, 1823 and 1827 industrial product exhibitions, he was one of the most highly recognized silversmiths of the 19th century. Workshop located on the Rue Saint-Hororé N° 283 à Paris .​

Gold, enamel.

Louvre museum collection.

Collar of links of gold fleur-de-lis alternating with links consisting of a white enameled letter H (the first initial of name of the order founder Henry III of France) crowned with a gold French royal crown, with identical crowns on either side of it or alternately with a trophy of weapons. Each of these links was surrounded with red enamel flames forming a square around it.​

 

Original case.

 

Édouard de Fitz-James, 6th Duke of Fitz-James (10 January 1776 – 15 November 1838) was a French soldier, politician, Peer of France, and 6th Duke of Fitz-James, who descended from the British House of Stuart.

Édouard was born at Versailles on 10 January 1776. He was the second, but eldest surviving, son of Jacques Charles de Fitz-James, 5th Duke of Fitz-James, (1743–1805) and Marie Claudine Silvie de Thiard de Bissy (c. 1752–1812). His elder sister, Henriette Victoire de Fitz-James, who married Charles François Armand de Maillé de La Tour Landry, 2nd Duke of Maillé, in 1784.

His paternal grandparents were Charles de Fitz-James, 4th Duke of Fitz-James (younger son of James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, who was an illegitimate son of King James II of England), and the former Victoire Goyon de Matignon (a granddaughter of Field Marshal Charles-Auguste de Goyon). His paternal aunt was Laure-Auguste de Fitz-James, the wife of Philippe Gabriel Maurice d'Alsace de Hénin-Liétard, 6th Prince of Chimay, and the Première dame d'honneur to the Queen of France. His maternal grandparents were the former Anne Brissart and Gen. Henri de Thiard de Bissy, who was guillotined on the day Robespierre fell during the French Revolution.

After the outbreak of the French Revolution, Édouard escaped to Italy. He later joined the Condé Army of émigrés where he served as aide-de-camp to Marshal Charles Eugène Gabriel de La Croix.

He returned to France in 1801 around the time of the Bourbon Restoration, succeeding his father as the 6th Duke of Fitz-James on 11 August 1805. In 1813, he accepted the rank of Corporal in the first legion of the National Guard and was sent to the barrier of Monceau on 30 March 1814. During the Bourbon Restoration and became aide-de-camp and First Gentleman of the Chamber of the Count of Artois (later King Charles X), Colonel of the National Guard and Peer of France on 4 June 1814. He accompanied the king's brother on his tour of the South of France and Lyon.

During the Hundred Days in 1815, he went to Ghent with Louis XVIII before returning to Paris and taking his place in the Chamber of Peers where he was known for his ultraroyalist views. On 21 October 1815, he put forth a vote of thanks to the Duke of Angoulême.

He distinguished himself during the trial of Marshal Michel Ney, judged by the Chamber of Peers, by insisting on death penalty, the verdict which he brought to the Palais des Tuileries on 6 December 1815. He also played a role in the trial brought against Gen. Henri Gatien Bertrand, his brother-in-law, by publishing a letter in which he claimed that the general had taken an oath to Louis XVIII.

From 10 January 1835 to 11 November 1838, he represented Haute-Garonne in the third legislature.​