Béatrix de Choiseul-Stainville, duchesse de Gramont

Béatrix de Choiseul, Duchess of Gramont (18 November 1729 - 17 April 1794) was a French salonnière and bibliophile. She was known for her close relationship to her brother the Duke of Choiseaul and credited with an influential position at court during his tenure as minister in 1758–1770. She is also known for her attempt to become the official mistress of Louis XV in the 1760s and her succeeding feud with Madame du Barry.

Biography

Early life Béatrix was the daughter of François Joseph, Marquis de Choiseul, Marquis of Stainville, and Marie Louise Bassompierre, and sister of Étienne François, duc de Choiseul. Unmarried, she was initially made canoness of Remiremont. When her brother was appointed minister, however, she was able to join him in Paris, and her negotiations were made to arrange a marriage for her, so that she would be able to attend court.

In 1759, she married Antoine VII, Duke of Gramont, governor of Navarre, after negotiations to marry her to Louis de Bauffremont failed. She separated from her spouse three months after the wedding and lived thereafter in the household of her brother, over whom she was credited some influence in several affairs. While her sister-in-law was described as a timid character who followed her lead, her close relationship to her brother was well known. She regularly attended court, became a significant figure in court life and a personal friend of Madame de Pompadour.

After the formal introduction of Madame du Barry to court, the Choiseul-women excused themselves from the king's private suppers at the Petits Cabinets, effectively demonstrating that it was socially unacceptable for noblewomen to associate with Madame du Barry. The king defeated the boycott by enlisting initially the Marechale de Mirepoix (friend of Madame de Pompadour) and then several other noblewomen to integrate his mistress at court by acting as her companions.

When du Barry was officially accepted at court, the conflict developed into a personal feud between the king's mistress and the Choiseul party. The Duke de Lauzun was sent to mediate a message of peace from Madame du Barry to the Duke de Choiseul, but when he arrived, Choiseul was in the company of his sister and received the message "with all the haughtiness of a Minister who is harassed by women and believes that he has nothing to fear," and declared that there was "war to the knife" between him and Madame du Barry, while Béatrix "made some outrageous remarks, in which she did not spare even the King."