François de Vendôme, Duke of Beaufort

Who was François de Vendôme, Duke of Beaufort?

François de Vendôme, Duc de Beaufort was the illegitimate grandson of Henry IV of France. He was also cousin to Louis XIV. He was a prominent figure in the Fronde, and later went on to fight in the Mediterranean. His mother was the heiress Françoise de Lorraine. He is sometimes called François de Vendôme, though he was born into the House of Bourbon, Vendôme coming from his father's title of Duke of Vendôme.

In March 1665, he led a small fleet which defeated a small Algerian fleet near the Goletta, Tunisia. In 1669 he led the newly arrived French troops defending Candia against the Ottoman Turks, and was presumed to be killed in a night sortie, on June 25, 1669. His body was brought back to France for a state funeral.