Antoine VIII de Gramont


Antoine-Louis-Marie de Gramont, 8th Duke of Gramont, was a French military officer, diplomat and parliamentarian.

Life and career

He was known by the courtesy title of comte de Louvigny before his marriage, on 16 April 1780, to Aglaé de Polignac, daughter of Yolande de Polastron, Duchess of Polignac. At that point, he was accorded the style of duc de Guiche, since he was the heir presumptive to the Dukedom of Gramont. In 1801, he succeeded a cousin as the 8th Duke of Gramont and the Prince of Bidache.
He served as a captain in the Royal Garde du Corps before fleeing to Britain at the outset of the French Revolution. He remained loyal to the House of Bourbon, becoming a military commander under Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême. He later served briefly as French ambassador to the Court of St James's under the Bourbon Restoration.

Titles and honours

Titles and styles

In Riyoko Ikeda's shōjo manga The Rose of Versailles and its anime adaptation, he is depicted as a much older man at the time of his betrothal to Aglaé de Polignac, here renamed Charlotte. She is depicted killing herself rather than marry him. Rosalie Lamorlière is then manœuvred by their mother into replacing her as his fiancée, but she rebels and runs away.