Armand de Gramont

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Guy Armand de Gramont , Comte de Guiche (* 1637 ; † November 29, 1673 in Kreuznach ) was a French courtier, adventurer and military man.

Comte de Guiche 1657

He came from the old southern French noble family Gramont and was the son of Antoine III. de Gramont , Duke of Guiche and Marshal of France , and Françoise-Marguerite du Plessis, a niece of Cardinal Richelieu . His sister Catherine Charlotte de Gramont was considered a beauty at court, was after her marriage in 1660 Princess of Monaco, lady-in-waiting to the Duchess of Orléans and later for a short time lover of Louis XIV.

Gramont was known at the French court for gallant adventures and found its way into the Histoire amoureuse des Gaules by Bussy-Rabutin . He was considered one of the best-looking courtiers, but also vain, arrogant and arrogant. He was bisexual, on the one hand belonged to the homosexual circle of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans , the brother of Louis XIV, but was also considered a lover of his wife Henrietta Anne Stuart (Duchess of Orléans), which the Duke was not very happy about , and courted Louise de La Vallière , who became the lover of Louis XIV.

Philippe d'Orléans fell in love with him at the age of 18, his cousin Anne Marie reported that at a masked ball in 1658 Gramont kicked his buttocks while dancing, a confidentiality that seemed to go too far for her. but Philippe liked everything that came from him. In 1662 he was banned from court because he had teamed up with the jealous Duchess of Orléans to drive a wedge between the King and La Vallière (in which his sister supported him as lady in waiting and confidante of the Duchess).

Gramont then served in foreign armies, first for the Poles against the Turks and then for the Dutch against England and in 1665 against the Bishop of Munster in the province of Overijssel . In 1666 he was with his brother-in-law, the Duke of Monaco, on board the De 7 Provincien , the flagship of Admiral de Ruyter in the four-day battle . In 1669 he returned to France and in 1671 to the court. In 1672 he took part in the Dutch War , the attempt to invade the Netherlands by Louis XIV. He gained fame when he was the first in the army to swim the Rhine, setting an example for the army to follow. Soon afterwards he fell ill (possibly from the consequences of crossing the Rhine) and died.

In 1658 he married Marguerite-Louise-Suzanne de Bethune Sully, Comtesse de Guiche (1642-1726).

He left memoirs (as did his father and uncle).

literature

  • Denis Labau Un Franc-Gaulois a la cour du Roi Soleil: Guy-Armand de Gramont, Comte de Guiche , 2005
  • Memoires Du Comte De Guiche, Concernant Les Provinces Unies Des Pais Bas ... ,, London: Philippe Changuion 1744, Archives
  • Relation du passage du Rhin (Mémoires du comte de Guiche contenant plusieurs particularités arrivées sous le règne de Louis le Grand) , pub. by Michaud et Poujoulat, 3e série, tome 7, 1839.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, duchesse de Montpensier, Mémoires , Paris, Fontaine, 1985, II pp. 92-93
personal data
SURNAME Gramont, Armand de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gramont, Guy Armand de; Gramont de Guiche, Guy-Armand
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French courtier, adventurer and military
DATE OF BIRTH 1637
DATE OF DEATH November 29, 1673
Place of death Kreuznach