Angélique Victoire de Durfort-Civrac (2 December 175214 November 1816), Countess of Chastellux, was a French
courtier
A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the official ...
. She served as ''
dame d'honneur Dame d'honneur or Dame d’honneur was a common title for two categories of French ladies-in-waiting, who are often confused because of the similarity.
Dame d'honneur can be:
* Short for Première dame d'honneur, which were commonly shortened to ...
'' to
Madame Victoire, daughter of
King Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
, from 1786 to 1799.
Life
She was born to , duc de Civrac, and Anne-Marie de La Faurie de Monbadan (1720-1786). She was the sibling of duc de Lorges (1746–1826), and the Marquise de Donnissan (1747–1839), mother of the memoirist
Victoire de Donnissan, marquise de La Rochejaquelein.
Her mother served as ''Dame surnuméraire de Mesdames les cadettes'' (Lady-in-waiting to the princesses Victoire, Sophie & Louise) in 1751–56, ''
dame d'atour
''Dame d'atour'' was an office at the royal court of France. It existed in nearly all French courts from the 16th-century onward. The ''dame d'honneur'' was selected from the members of the highest French nobility.
History
At least from the Isab ...
'' from 1756, and from 1775
dame d'honneur Dame d'honneur or Dame d’honneur was a common title for two categories of French ladies-in-waiting, who are often confused because of the similarity.
Dame d'honneur can be:
* Short for Première dame d'honneur, which were commonly shortened to ...
to
princess Victoire of France
Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince.
Princess as a subst ...
. She was also the personal confidante and favorite of Princess Victoire, who was named
godmother to her daughter, and Angélique Victoire was raised and educated at the famous
school at Saint-Cyr. In 1773 she married at
Saint-Cyr to Henri Georges César, comte de
Chastellux. She became the mother of César Laurent, marquis de Chastellux (1780–1854), and two daughters: Louise Pauline de Chastellux (1781–1857), who married Joseph Élisabeth Roger, comte Damas d'Antigny; and Gabrielle Joséphine Simone de Chastellux (1783–1820), spouse of Jean Baptiste Auguste Madeline de Percin, marquis de la Valette Montgaillard.
After her wedding, she was appointed ''dame pour accompagner'' to Princess Victoire. After the death of her mother in 1786, she succeeded her as ''dame d'atour'' to Princess Victoire, whilst her husband was named gentleman-in-waiting. With her
court appointment Court appointments are the traditional positions within a royal, ducal, or noble household. In the early Middle Ages, when such households were established, most court officials had either domestic or military duties; the monarch's closest adviser ...
s she had expected to be created a duchess, and considered resigning her post when she learned otherwise. However, due to the entreaties of Victoire and her elder sister, the
Princess Adélaïde, de Chastellux agreed to continue in employ.
In February 1791, after the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
, she belonged to the large retinue that accompanied Victoire and her sister Adelaide from France to Rome.
[Boigne, Louise-Eléonore-Charlotte-Adélaide d'Osmond, ]
Memoirs of the Comtesse de Boigne (1781-1814)
', London, Heinemann, 1907 She was accompanied by her spouse and children. During their stay in Rome in 1791–96, the court of the Mesdames were divided in two rival fractions led by the head lady-in-waiting of Madame Victoire, de Chastellux, and her colleague in the court of Madame Adelaide,
Françoise de Chalus, who were called the Narbonne fraction and the Chastellux fraction.
She returned to Paris in 1811 where she died, aged 63.
See also
*
Durfort family
Durfort is the name of a French noble family, distinguished in French and English history. It originated as feudal lords of Durfort, Tarn, a village of south-western France.
Middle Ages
Though earlier lords are known, the pedigree of the fam ...
References
Sources
* Casimir Stryenski, ''The Daughters of Louis XV'' (1912)
* Welvert Eugene,
Autour d'une dame d'honneur'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chastellux, Angelique Victoire, Comtesse de
1752 births
1816 deaths
Ancien Régime office-holders
French ladies-in-waiting