Aglaé de Gramont (Aglaé Angélique Gabrielle; 17 January 1787 – 21 January 1842) was a French

noblewoman A noblewoman is a female member of the nobility. Noblewomen form a disparate group, which has evolved over time. Ennoblement of women has traditionally been a rare occurrence; the majority of noblewomen were linked to the nobility by either their ...

aristocrat The aristocracy (''from Greek'' ''ἀριστοκρατία'' ''aristokratía'', "rule of the best"; ''Latin: aristocratia'') is historically associated with a "hereditary" or a "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the ...

socialite A socialite is a person, typically a woman from a wealthy or aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having ...

, and the addressee of the poems of

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is consid ...

Biography

Birth and background

Aglaé Angélique Gabrielle de Gramont was born on 17 January 1787, at Versailles. Her parents,

Aglaé de Polignac Aglaé Louise Françoise Gabrielle de Polignac (7 May 1768 – 30 March 1803) was the daughter of Yolande de Polastron, Gabrielle de Polastron, the favourite and confidante of Marie Antoinette, and her husband, the Jules, 1st Duke of Polignac, 1s ...

and Antoine Louis Marie de Gramont, 8th Duke of Gramont married on 11 July 1780. Her maternal grandparents,

Yolande de Polastron Yolande de Polastron, Duchess of Polignac (Yolande Martine Gabrielle; 8 September 17499 December 1793) was the favourite of Marie Antoinette, whom she met when she was presented at the Palace of Versailles in 1775, the year after Marie Antoinett ...

, courtier and favourite of

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the ...

, and Jules de Polignac, 1st Duke of Polignac were of noble origin. Her maternal great-grandparents, Diane Adélaïde Zéphirine Mancini and Louis Heraclius de Polignac descended from the

House of Noailles The title of Duke of Noailles is a Peer of France, French peerage created in 1663 for Anne de Noailles, Anne de Noailles, Count of Ayen. History Noailles is the name of a prominent French noble family, derived from the castle of Noailles in the t ...

Early life

Following the outset of the French Revolution, Aglaé and her family fled to

Edinburgh, Scotland Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, where they lived at the

Palace of Holyroodhouse The Palace of Holyroodhouse ( or ), commonly known as Holyrood Palace, is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Located at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood has ...

. On 30 March 1803 her mother, aged 34, died in an accidental house fire in her apartment at eight o'clock in the morning.

Marriage

In 1804, at the age of 17, a year after her mother's death, Aglaé married Major General

Alexander Lvovich Davydov Alexander Lvovich Davydov (; 1773–1833) was a major-general of the Russian Empire, who served in the era of the Napoleonic Wars. Biography Davydov was born to the prominent Russian noble family of the Davydovs, and was the half-brother of th ...

at Petersburg, Russia. The union resulted in the birth of 4 children; Ekaterina (1805–1882), Yuliania (born and died 1807), Elizaveta (1810–1882), and Vladimir (1816–1886). In the 1820s, Aglaé left her husband, and went in pursuit to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

alongside her daughters. She remarried in 1835 to

Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta (; 11 November 1771 – 20 July 1851) was a French general, diplomat, and politician, who served as Naval Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of State under the July Monarchy. Ha ...

; however, the marriage remained childless.

Issue

Popular culture

In 1822,

dedicated a poem to Aglaé, "Another had my Aglaya": :Another had my Aglaya :For his uniform and black moustache, :Another for money - I understand, :Another because he was French, :Cleon - frightening her with his mind, :Damis - because he sang tenderly. :Tell me now, my friend Aglaya, :Why did your husband have you?

Explanatory footnotes

References

Notes

Works cited

* * * * * * * * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:de Gramont, Aglaé 1787 births People from Versailles 1842 deaths 18th-century French women 19th-century French women Nobility from Paris 18th-century French nobility 19th-century French nobility