Prince de la Moskowa


The titles of Duke of Elchingen and Prince of the Moskva were created by Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, for the Marshal of France Michel Ney. Both were victory titles; Ney was created Duke of Elchingen in 1808, after the Battle of Elchingen, and Prince of the Moskva after the Battle of Borodino near a branch of the Moskva River, 125 km outside Moscow. In 1814, Ney became a peer of France. On his execution in 1815, the peerage was revoked, but it was restored in 1831.
Clauses in the titles' patents of creation caused the title of Prince of the Moskva to pass to Ney's eldest son, Joseph, and the dukedom of Elchingen to pass to his second son, Michel. This ensured that the two titles would never be held by the same person if there was another heir living, a similar situation to the British titles of Duke of Hamilton and Earl of Selkirk.
The two titles were reunited in one person in 1928, and both became extinct with the death of the last heir in 1969.

Ducs d'Elchingen (1808)