Countess Élaine Marie Joseph Charlotte de Greffulhe (19 March 1882 – 11 February 1958), who became the Duchess of Gramont by marriage, was a French aristocrat. She was a descendant of

Hortense Mancini Hortense Mancini, Duchesse de Mazarin (6 June 1646 – 2 July 1699), was a niece of Cardinal Mazarin, chief minister of France, and a mistress of Charles II, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. She was the fourth of the five famous Mancini si ...

. Through her grandaughter's

Pauline Félicité de Mailly Pauline may refer to: Religion *An adjective referring to St Paul the Apostle or a follower of his doctrines *An adjective referring to St Paul of Thebes, also called St Paul the First Hermit *An adjective referring to the Paulines, various reli ...

son

Charles de Vintimille Charles de Vintimille (2 September 1741 – 24 February 1814), ''marquis du Luc'', was a French aristocrat and governor. He was the illegitimate son of Pauline Félicité de Mailly and king Louis XV of France and known as ''Demi-Louis'' ('Little Lo ...

, duc de Luc

Early life

Élaine was born on 19 March 1882 in Paris. She was the daughter, and heiress, of Count Henry Greffulhe and his wife, Élisabeth de Riquet de Caraman-Chimay (said to be a model for the Duchess of Guermantes in

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel ''In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous Eng ...

’s novel, ''

À la recherche du temps perdu ''In Search of Lost Time'' (french: À la recherche du temps perdu), first translated into English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'', and sometimes referred to in French as ''La Recherche'' (''The Search''), is a novel in seven volumes by French ...

'').

Personal life

In 1904, she married

Armand de Gramont Armand Antoine Agénor de Gramont, 12th Duc de Gramont (29 September 1879 – 2 August 1962) was a French nobleman, scientist and industrialist. He was known by the courtesy title of Duc de Guiche until 1925, when he succeeded his father as Duc ...

, who later became the 12th

Duke of Gramont The title of Duke of Gramont (''duc de Gramont'') is a French dukedom and former peerage. It was created in 1648 for French Marshal Antoine III de Gramont. History The family of Gramont was a Navarrese medieval noble house and owned the chateau o ...

. His parents were Agénor de Gramont, 11th Duke of Gramont and the former

Marguerite de Rothschild Mayer Carl ''Freiherr'' von Rothschild (5 August 1820 – 16 October 1886) was a German Jewish banker and politician, as well as scion of the Rothschild family. Early life Born in Naples on 5 August 1820. He was a son of Adelheid ( née Herz) a ...

. A rare film clip may show Proust (in bowler hat and gray coat) at her wedding in 1904.Link to film clip
/ref> Proust’s wedding gift to the groom was apparently a revolver in a leather case inscribed with verses from her childhood poems. Czar

Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...

sent her a gift in honor of their 1904 marriage. Together, Élaine and Armand were the parents of: *

Antoine Agénor Henri Armand de Gramont, 13th Duke of Gramont Antoine is a French given name (from the Latin ''Antonius'' meaning 'highly praise-worthy') that is a variant of Danton, Titouan, D'Anton and Antonin. The name is used in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, West Greenland, Haiti, French Guiana ...

(1907–1995), who married Odile Marguerite Marie Marthe Madeleine Sublet d'Heudicourt de Lenoncourt. * Comte Jean Armand Antoine de Gramont (1909–1994), who married Ghislaine Meunier du Houssoy. * Comte Charles Louis Antoine Armand de Gramont (b. 1911), who married Shermine Baras * Corisande Marguerite Elisabeth de Gramont (b. 1920), who married Comte Jean-Louis de Maigret. Élaine died in Paris on 11 February 1958.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Greffulhe, Elaine 1882 births 1958 deaths Nobility from Paris Dukes of Gramont