Bernard-René Jourdan de Launay permanently stationed in Paris except in time of war. In 1776 de Launay succeeded M. de Jumilhac as Governor of the Bastille. As was the custom with many senior positions under the Ancien Régime, the marquis purchased the office of governor from his predecessor as a form of investment. The thirteen years that he spent in this position were uneventful, though on 19 December 1778 he reportedly made the mistake of failing to fire the cannon of the Bastille as a salute on the birth of a daughter (Madame Royale) to King Louis XVI. In August 1785 he was given
Claudio Gabriele de Launay fall of Napoleon, de Launay re-entered the Savoyard army and was promoted to the Maggiore grade in 1825, Colonel in 1831 and Luogotenente Generale in 1843, the same year in which he became the last Viceroy of Sardinia. After the defeat in the First War of Independence in Italy, de Launay was elected Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1849, holding at the same time the office of Foreign Minister, the first one after Vittorio Emanuele II's ascent to the throne. After the dissolution of the Parliament due to the overcoming of the Italian crisis, the king put