Duke of Enghien
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The title of Duke of Enghien (or Duke d'Enghien, or Duc d'Enghien) may, like many noble titles, refer to any of several historical figures. Most often it refers to Louis-Antoine-Henri de Bourbon-Condé, duc d'Enghien, whose execution on trumped-up charges in 1804 during the First French Empire removed any hope of reconciliation between Napoleon Bonaparte and the House of Bourbon. The Duke was executed in the moat of the Chateau de Vincennes.
The title was first conferred on Louis de Bourbon, 1st Prince of Condé, whose county of Enghien (modern-day Belgium) was elevated to a duchy-peerage in 1566. However, the necessary registration process was not completed, so the title became extinct at his death in 1569. His grandson Henri II, 3rd Prince of Condé inherited the duchy of Montmorency (near Paris) in 1633, and in 1689 the duchy of Montmorency was renamed as "duchy of Enghien" for his son Louis II, 2nd Duc de Montmorency and 4th Prince of Condé. The title "Duc d'Enghien" was thereafter used as a courtesy title for the eldest son of the Prince de Condé. For a list of Dukes of this second creation, see under Duc de Montmorency.
