Corisande de Gramont

Corisande de Gramont, Countess of Tankerville (5 October 1782 – 23 January 1865), styled Lady Ossulston from 1806 to 1822, was a French noblewoman and the wife of Charles Bennet, 5th Earl of Tankerville.

Biography Birth and background

Corisande Armandine Sophie Léonie Hélène de Gramont was born on 5 October 1782 in Paris, France. She was likely named after the Countess of Guiche, Diane d'Andoins (1554–1621), who was called La Belle Corisande ("The Beautiful Corisande").

Corisande was the eldest child and first daughter of the Duke of Guiche, Antoine Louis Marie de Gramont, and his wife, Aglaé de Polignac. Her parents married two years before her birth in July 1780. Corisande had a younger sister and brother: Aglaé (1787–1842) and Héraclius (1789–1855).

Early life

As the granddaughter of Yolande de Polastron, the Polignac family were given benefits from the queen. Corisande and her younger siblings lived at the court of Marie Antoinette in the Palace of Versailles.

After the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, all members of the Polignac family were exiled from France and obliged to flee immediately. Corisande and her family fled to Edinburgh, Scotland, where they lived in an apartment at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

On 30 March 1803, Aglaé de Polignac died in an accidental fire in her apartment at eight o'clock in the morning, aged thirty-four.

Marriage

On 28 July 1806, Corisande married Charles Bennet, 5th Earl of Tankerville and was titled Countess consort of Tankerville. The marriage took place at the Devonshire House. They had two children; Charles Bennet, 6th Earl of Tankerville, (1810–1899), and Lady Corisande Emma Bennet (1807–1876).

Death Following the death of her husband on 25 June 1859, Corisande was given the title of Dowager Countess of Tankerville. Corisande died in London on 23 January 1865. Corisande outlived her sister, Aglaé de Gramont by 23 years and her younger brother, Héraclius de Gramont, 9th Duke of Gramont by a decade, despite being the eldest of the three. She was buried in St Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Kensal Green.