Antoine-Geneviève-Héraclius-Agénor de Gramont
Antoine IX Geneviève Héraclius Agénor de Gramont, 9th Duke of Gramont, Duke of Guiche, Prince of Bidache, etc. was a 19th-century French aristocratic Army general and courtier.Life
De Gramont was born at Versailles, the only son of Antoine, 8th Duke of Gramont by his wife Aglaé, daughter of Gabrielle de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac, a court favourite of Queen Marie-Antoinette.
When the French Revolution broke out, in the year of his birth, the De Gramont family left France for various parts of Europe: including Britain, Italy, Austria as well as Russia.
Héraclius de Gramont joined his father in Mittau, who was serving with Louis XVIII, before being commissioned at the age of nine in the Tauride Grenadier Regiment. Following basic training he was promoted Lieutenant and fought under the Russian General Suvorov's command.
Accorded the courtesy title of duc de Guiche 1813, he returned to England to complete his education before serving under the Duke of Wellington later in the Peninsular Wars. After the fall of Napoleon, his military career continued to prosper and he was appointed Lieutenant-General in the French Army in 1823 and, in 1830, later accompanied King Charles X to exile in Scotland.
Heraclius de Gramont married Ida, comtesse d'Orsay in 1818; they had a son Agénor in the following year. The Duke died in Paris on 3 March 1855, aged 65.
One of his elder sisters, Aglaé-Angélique-Gabrielle married firstly Count :fr:Alexandre Lvovitch Davydov|Aleksandr Lvovich Davydov, who died 1833, and was ancestor of the :fr:Arthur de Gabriac|Marquesses of Gabriac; the Dowager Countess Davidoff married secondly Count Horace Sébastiani de La Porta.
Honours
He married Anna-Quintina-Albertine Grimod, Countess d'Orsay in Paris on 23 July 1818; they had:
- Antoine Alfred Agénor, 10th Duc de Gramont ;
- :fr:Auguste de Gramont |Antoine Philibert Léon Auguste, Duc de Lesparre ;
- Antonia Albertine Corisande ;
- Antoine Alfred Annérius Théophile, Comte de Gramont, married in Paris on 21 November 1848 Louise Cécile Charlotte de Choiseul-Praslin, and had:
- * Antoine Alfred Armand Xavier Louis, Comte de Gramont, married in Savennières on 2 October 1886 Anne Marie Brincard, of the Barons Brincard, and had:
- ** Antoine Louis Marie Arnaud Sanche, Comte de Gramont, Duc de Coigny by courtesy, unmarried and without issue.
- ** Diane Antoinette Corisande Anne Marie Louise de Gramont de Coigny, married in Paris on 2 December 1911 D. Nuno Álvares Pereira de Melo, Duque de Cadaval, Marquês de Ferreira com Tratamento de Sobrinho d'El-Rei, Conde de Tentúgal de Juro e Herdade, and had issue;
- Antonia Armandine Aglaé Ida ;
- Antonia Gabrielle Léontine, unmarried and without issue.
