Amédée-François-Régis de Pérusse des Cars, Duke of Cars (30 December 1790 – 19 January 1868), was a French nobleman and soldier.
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Early life
Amédée-François-Régis de Pérusse des Cars was born at Chambéry, Savoie, France on 30 December 1790. He was a son of François-Nicolas-René de Pérusse des Cars, Comte des Cars, and Etienette Charlotte Dorothée Emilie de Ligny.
His paternal grandparents were Jeanne Marie Victoire d'Artaguiette de la Huette de Carvoisin and Louis-Nicolas de Pérusse des Cars, Marquis des Cars (a son of Louis François de Pérusse des Cars, Comte des Cars and Marquis de Pranzac, and the former Marie-Françoise-Victoire de Verthamon). His maternal grandparents were Adrien Charles de Ligny and Élisabeth Jeanne de La Roche.
Career
Following the French Revolution and the destruction of the family château, the family went into exile in England. Des Cars was commissioned as an officer in the British 7th Light Dragoons (Hussars) and served with this regiment during the Peninsular War (1809–1814). He participated in the retreat to La Coruña (1808–09) and the battle fought there on January 16, 1809. After a period in Ireland (1810–1812), the regiment returned to Spain and fought through the Pyrenees and southern France. Des Cars participated with the 7th Hussars in the Battle of Orthes and the attack on Toulouse. In 1847, he applied for and received the Military General Service Medal, with clasps: Corunna, Orthes and Toulouse. He resigned his position as lieutenant in the 7th Hussars at the (apparent) end of the war in 1814 and returned to France.