Marie Louis Jean Jay Georges Paul Ernest Boniface, Marquis de Castellane (17 January 1897 – 5 February 1946), was a French

nobleman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

and diplomat.

Early life

He was the eldest son of American railroad heiress

Anna Gould Anna Gould (June 5, 1875 – November 30, 1961) was an American socialite and heiress as a daughter of financier Jay Gould. Early life Anna Gould was born on June 5, 1875, in New York City. She was the daughter of Jay Gould (1836–1892) and ...

and Boni de Castellane, who was known as a leading ''

Belle Époque The Belle Époque () or La Belle Époque () was a period of French and European history that began after the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 and continued until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Occurring during the era of the Fr ...

'' tastemaker. Among his siblings were Georges de Castellane (who married Florinda Fernández Anchorena, owner of the Fernández Anchorena Palace in Buenos Aires) and Jason "Jay" de Castellane. His parents divorced in 1906 after his father had spent about $10 million of her family's money, and his mother remarried to Boni's cousin Hélie de Talleyrand-Périgord, Duc de Sagan (son of the Boson de Talleyrand-Périgord), with whom she had two more children, Howard de Talleyrand-Périgord (who committed suicide in 1929), and Hélène Violette de Talleyrand-Périgord (who married Count James Robert de Pourtalès and

Gaston Palewski Gaston Palewski (20 March 1901 – 3 September 1984), a French politician, was a close associate of Charles de Gaulle during and after World War II. He is also remembered as the lover of the English novelist Nancy Mitford, and appears in a fic ...

). His paternal grandparents were Antoine de Castellane, a deputy for

Cantal Cantal (; or ) is a rural Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region of France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Aurillac. Its other principal towns are Saint-Flour, Cantal, Saint-Flou ...

, and Madeleine Le Clerc de Juigné. His maternal grandparents were the American railroad magnate and financial speculator,

Jay Gould Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who founded the Gould family, Gould business dynasty. He is generally identified as one of the Robber baron (industrialist), robber bar ...

, and

Helen Day Miller Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who founded the Gould family, Gould business dynasty. He is generally identified as one of the Robber baron (industrialist), robber bar ...

. His niece, Diane de Castellane, married Philippe de Noailles, Duke of Mouchy.

Career

Upon the death of his father in Paris on 20 October 1932, he succeeded him as the Marquis de Castellane. A diplomat during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he was serving as the Second Secretary of the Embassy of France, London at the time of France's collapse during the invasion of the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

in 1940. During that summer, he was made ''

Chargé d'affaires A (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is Frenc ...

'' of the Embassy following the retirement of the other French diplomats. In response to the shelling of French ships at Oran, Algeria by British squadron, Castellane called Viscount Halifax, then Foreign Secretary, on 8 July 1940 requesting "the passports of the French diplomats in England. On July 19 nearly 1,500 French diplomats, other officials and soldiers left London for France, headed by the Marquis."

Personal life

On 6 January 1921, while still known as the Count of Castellane, he was married to Yvonne Constance Patenôtre (1896–1981), in Paris with his uncle, Frank Gould, as best man. She was a daughter of Jules Patenôtre (formerly the French Ambassador to the United States) and Eleanor Elverson (the sister of James Elverson Jr. and daughter of publisher James Elverson Sr. by his wife Sallie Duvall, the three of them owners of ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...

''). Together, they were the parents of three daughters: * Raymonde de Castellane (1921–2006), who married Robert Bertin in 1952. * Pauline de Castellane (b. 1923), who married diplomat Charles Jehannot d'Huriel de Bartillat. * Elisabeth de Castellane (1928–1991), who married Jean Bertrand Jacques Adrien Nompar, Count of Caumont La Force in 1948. The Marquess died on 5 February 1946. His funeral was held at the Church of Saint-Honoré-d'Eylau.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castellane, Boniface De 1897 births 1946 deaths Diplomats for France

Boniface Boniface, OSB (born Wynfreth; 675 –5 June 754) was an English Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of Francia during the eighth century. He organised significant foundations of the church i ...

French marquesses Gould family