Career
Aumale distinguished himself during the French invasion of Algeria and, in 1847, he became lieutenant-general and was appointed Governor-General of Algeria, a position he held from 27 September 1847 to 24 February 1848.
In this capacity, he received the submission of the emir Abdel Kadir, in December 1847. After the Revolution of 1848, he retired to England and busied himself with historical and military studies, responding in 1861 to Napoleon III's violent attacks upon the House of Orléans with a Letter upon History of France.
After the Bavarian-born King Otto of Greece was overthrown in October 1862, the Greeks still favoured a monarchy and wanted Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, as their new king, but he declined. In the search for a king, the French put forward the name of Aumale, while other contenders included Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the Prince of Leiningen, and Archduke Maximilian of Austria. Eventually, the choice fell on Prince William of Denmark, aged only seventeen, and the Greek National Assembly elected him as the new King of the Hellenes in March 1863.
At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, Aumale volunteered for service in the French army, but his offer was declined. Elected to parliament as deputy for the Oise, he returned to France. He also succeeded to the seat of the Count Montalembert in the Académie française.
In March 1872, he returned to the army as a Divisional General and in 1873 presided over the court-martial which condemned Marshal Bazaine to death.
At this time, having been appointed commander of the VII Army Corps at Besançon, Aumale retired from political life. In 1879, he became inspector-general of the army. The act of exception, passed in 1883, deprived all members of families who had reigned in France of their military commissions. Consequently, Aumale was placed on the unemployed supernumerary list.
In 1886, another law was promulgated which expelled from French territory the heads of former reigning families and provided that, henceforward, all members of those families should be disqualified from holding any public position or function and from election to any public body. Aumale protested energetically but was nonetheless expelled from France.
In his will, written on 3 June 1884, Aumale had bequeathed his Chantilly estate to the Institute of France, including the Château de Chantilly, which was to be turned into a museum displaying his large art collection. After this act of generosity was revealed, the French government withdrew the decree of exile, and the duke returned to France in 1889.
