Béatrix de Choiseul-Stainville
Béatrix de Choiseul-Stainville | |
---|---|
Duchess of Gramont | |
Portrait de la duchesse de Grammont, by Alexander Roslin, c. 1774 | |
Born |
Lunéville | 18 November 1729
Died |
17 April 1794 64) Paris | (aged
Noble family | Duke of Choiseul |
Spouse(s) | Antoine VII, Duke of Gramont |
Father | Franz Joseph Marquis de Choiseul |
Mother | Marie-Louise Bassompierre |
Béatrix de Choiseul-Stainville, Duchess of Gramont (18 November 1729 Lunéville - 17 April 1794 Paris) was a French salonnière and bibliophile.
Biography
She was the daughter of Franz Joseph Marquis de Choiseul, Marquis of Stainville, and Marie-Louise Bassompierre, and sister of Étienne François, duc de Choiseul. She was canoness of Remiremont.
She was summoned to Paris, where her family attempted, at first but without success, to marry her to the Louis de Bauffremont, who eluded the alliance. Shortly after, Beatrix married Antoine VII, Duke of Gramont, governor of Navarre, which consented to the union. From then on, the Duchesse de Gramont had a salon, sufficient to rival Madame de Pompadour.[1]
An ambitious and firm woman, she was a distinguished bibliophile. When she was summoned in 1794 to the Revolutionary Tribunal, which was to condemn her to the guillotine, she was asked: "Did you not send money to emigrants?", She replied: "I was going to say no, she replied, but my life is not worth a lie!".[1]
References
- 1 2 Schmidt, Louise Boisen (2014-07-15). "This is Versailles: Béatrix de Choiseul-Stainville, Duchesse de Gramont". This is Versailles. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
Sources
- Louis Petit de Bachaumont, Anecdotes piquantes, Paris, Gay et Doucé, 1881, p. 285.
- Armand Louis de Gontaut-Biron, Mémoires du duc de Lauzun (1747–1783), Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1858, p. 8.
External links
- "Titillating Tidbits About the Life and Times of Marie Antoinette: The Duchesse de Gramont...Grammont...Gramont!". leahmariebrownhistoricals.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2017-08-26.