Count François de Nicolay (31 August 1919 – 21 November 1963) was a member of the House of Nicolay in France who was a farm manager, arboriculturist, and a politician who was elected to the

Senate of France The Senate (french: Sénat, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. The French Senate is made up of 348 senators (''sénateurs'' a ...

Early life and education

Count François de Nicolay was born 31 August 1919 in the town of

Le Lude Le Lude () is a commune in the Sarthe department in the region of Pays de la Loire, northwestern France. On 1 January 2018, the former commune of Dissé-sous-le-Lude was merged into Le Lude.Sarthe Sarthe () is a department of the French region of Pays de la Loire, and the province of Maine, situated in the ''Grand-Ouest'' of the country. It is named after the river Sarthe, which flows from east of Le Mans to just north of Angers. It had ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

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. By birth he was part of the

French nobility The French nobility (french: la noblesse française) was a privileged social class in France from the Middle Ages until its abolition on June 23, 1790 during the French Revolution. From 1808 to 1815 during the First Empire the Emperor Napoléo ...

, a descendant of the Talhouët family. His grandfather was the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

of Le Lude for more than fifty years. His great-uncle, Auguste de Talhouët-Roy, owner of the

Château du Lude The Château du Lude is one of the many great châteaux of the Loire Valley (Vallée de la Loire) in France. The château is situated in the commune of Le Lude in the Sarthe department in the region of Pays de la Loire and stands at the crossr ...

, served as

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in the

Second French Empire The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Empire, Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the French Second Republic, Second and the French Third Republic ...

, and was a Senator for Sarthe between 1876 and 1882. After graduating from the

ESSEC The École Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (more commonly ESSEC Business School or ESSEC) is a major French business and management school, with non-profit association status (French association law of 1901) founded in 1907 ...

Business school A business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in business administration or management. A business school may also be referred to as school of management, management school, school of business administration, o ...

in Paris, François de Nicolay remained in the city where he went to work as an executive with the women's magazine, ''Femmes d'aujourd'hui''. At the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he joined the

French military The French Armed Forces (french: Forces armées françaises) encompass the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the Gendarmerie of the French Republic. The President of France heads the armed forces as Chief of the Armed Forces. France ...

and served until the

Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the La ...

was signed and the

German Occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

began. Back home in Le Lude, he oversaw forestry and farming operations which included the breeding of

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

horses.

Political career

Following the end of the War, on May 8, 1945, François de Nicolay was elected as a

council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

member for Le Lude and subsequently served as deputy mayor. In 1949, he was elected to the

General Council General council may refer to: In education: * General Council (Scottish university), an advisory body to each of the ancient universities of Scotland * General Council of the University of St Andrews, the corporate body of all graduates and senio ...

of Sarthe and was its president in 1952 and 1958. In 1959, François de Nicolay was elected to the

as an Independent Republican. Among his responsibilities, he served on the Committee for Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces. While still in office, he died at age forty-four in 1963 as a result of a traffic accident. The Avenue François-de-Nicolay in

Sablé-sur-Sarthe Sablé-sur-Sarthe (, literally ''Sablé on Sarthe''), commonly referred to as Sablé, is a commune in the Sarthe department, in the Pays de la Loire region, western France. It is about 50 km northeast of Angers. Population Geography The Va ...

and Place François de Nicolay in Le Lude are named in his memory.

Marriage

In 1950, François de Nicolay married the American born

Marie-Hélène van Zuylen van Nijevelt Marie-Hélène is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Marie-Hélène Amiable (born 1960), French politician, Mayor of Bagneux *Marie-Hélène Arnaud (1934–1986), French model and actress *Marie-Hélène Aubert (born 1955), Frenc ...

, daughter of the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

baron Egmont van Zuylen van Nyevelt, who owned De Haar Castle in

Haarzuilens Haarzuilens is a village in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is a part of the municipality of Utrecht, and lies about 12 km west from the city centre of Utrecht. It was a separate municipality until 1954, when it was joined to the municipalit ...

. Marie-Hélène van Zuylen van Nijevelt was also a descendant of the

Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of F ...

(the great-granddaughter of

Salomon James de Rothschild Salomon James de Rothschild (1835–1864) was a French banker and socialite. Biography Early life Salomon James de Rothschild was born on 30 March 1835. His father was James Mayer de Rothschild, head of the Paris branch of the prominent Rothsch ...

). François and Marie-Hélène had one son and heir (before their marriage was dissolved in 1956): *Count Philippe de Nicolay (b. 1955), who is a director of Paris Orleans PA, a French investment bank belonging to the Rothschild family,People: Paris Orleans S.A. (PROR.PA)
''Reuters Finance'' who married Princess Sophie de Ligne, the daughter of Belgium's

Antoine, Prince of Ligne Antoine Maria Joachim Lamoral de Ligne, 13th Prince of Ligne, Prince of Épinoy, Prince of Amblise, GE (8 March 1925 – 21 August 2005) was the son of Eugène, 11th Prince of Ligne, and his wife, Philippine de Noailles. Life and career Prin ...

References

Service record and biography of François de Nicolay at the Sénate of France
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicolay, Francois De 1919 births 1963 deaths People from Sarthe Counts of France French military personnel of World War II French farmers Mayors of places in Pays de la Loire French Senators of the Fifth Republic Road incident deaths in France Senators of Sarthe