Charles-Emmanuel de Crussol

Charles-Emmanuel de Crussol, 8th Duke of Uzès (11 January 1707 – 3 February 1762), was a French aristocrat, politician and soldier.

Early life Crussol was born in Paris on 11 January 1707. He was the eldest son of Jean Charles de Crussol, 7th Duke of Uzès (1675–1739), and, his second wife, Anne Marie Marguerite de Bullion de Fervacques (1684–1760). His father was widowed from his first wife, Princess Anna Hippolyte Grimaldi of Monaco (daughter of the reigning Prince of Monaco, Louis I, and the former Catherine de Gramont, herself a mistress of King Louis XIV). From his parents' marriage, he had a younger sister, Jeanne Julie Françoise de Crussol, who married Louis César de La Baume Le Blanc, 3rd Duke of La Vallière. His father became duke in 1693 following the death of his unmarried elder brother, Louis de Crussol, 6th Duke of Uzès.

Career In 1729, during the Ancien régime, he served as a deputy for the nobility to the Estates of Languedoc. In 1731, at the Battle of Parma, he received a terrible wound which made him hunchbacked.

The Duke was a book collector, and exchanged correspondence with Voltaire.

Personal life In 1725, Crussol was married to Émilie de La Rochefoucauld (1700–1753), the daughter of François de La Rochefoucauld, 4th Duke of La Rochefoucauld, and Charlotte Le Tellier (daughter of Louis XIV's Minister, François-Michel Le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois). Together, they were the parents of three children: Charles-Emmanuel de Crussol (1730–1743), who died young. Charlotte-Émilie de Crussol (1732–1791), who married, as his second wife, Louis-Marie de Rohan-Chabot, 5th Duke of Rohan, a grandson of Louis, Duke of Rohan and Antoine Gaston de Roquelaure, in 1758.

The duchess died at the Château de Bonnelles on 25 February 1753. The duke died in Paris on 3 February 1762. He was succeeded by his only surviving son, François-Emmanuel.