Laure-Auguste de Fitz-James, Princess de Chimay

Laure Auguste de Fitz-James, "princesse de Chimay" (7 December 1744 - 26 September 1814) was a French courtier. She served as lady-in-waiting to queen Marie Antoinette from 1770 to 1791.

Laure Auguste de Fitz-James
Princess of Chimay
Portrait of Laure-Auguste de FitzJames by Louis-Michel van Loo
Born	7 December 1744 Paris, France
Died	26 September 1814 (aged 69) Paris, France
Spouse(s)	Philippe Gabriel Maurice d'Alsace Henin-Liétard, 15th Prince of Chimay
Father	Charles de Fitz-James
Mother	Louise Victoire Sophie Goyon

Life

Laure-Auguste de Fitz-James was born in Paris as the daughter of Charles de Fitz-James and Louise Victoire Sophie Goyons Matignon. She married Philippe Gabriel Maurice d'Alsace Henin-Liétard, 15th Prince of Chimay, in 1762. She thus became the sister-in-law of Charles-Joseph de Hénin-Liétard d'Alsace. The couple had no children.

Her mother served as dame du palais to queen Marie Leszczynska, and she was appointed to the same position in 1762. When the queen died in 1768, she kept her position awaiting the arrival of the dauphine, similarly to the Première dame d'honneur Anne de Noailles (1729–1794) and the Dame d'atour Amable-Gabrielle de Villars. In January 1770, she begun her servive in the equivalent position as dame pour accompagner la dauphine to Marie Antoinette upon her arrival to France.

When Marie Antoinette became queen in 1774, she was again a dame du palais. In June 1775, she was appointed to dame d'atours after Adélaïde Diane de Cossé, who had replaced Villars in 1771. In September 1775, she replaced Anne de Noailles, whom the queen disliked, as Première dame d'honneur. Her position made her the first in rank of the female courtiers, but her rank was demoted to number two when the queen reintroduced the post of Surintendante de la Maison de la Reine for princess of Lamballe the same year. Because of this, the queen was obliged to compensate Chimay with a promotion to one of her relatives to prevent her from leaving court.

Chimay was described as reliable and dedicated and had a good working relationship with Marie Antoinette, with whom she shared an interest in opera. When Victoire de Rohan was to be replaced as Governess of the Children of France in 1782, de Chimay, alongside Louise-Charlotte de Duras, was commonly assumed to be the two most suitable candidates for the post: however, Marie Antoinette refused de Chimay because of her too severe religiosity and de Duras because she reportedly felt a certain academic inferiority toward her, and chose Yolande de Polastron for the position instead.[1]

On the outbreak of the French revolution, she belonged to those courtiers accompanying the royal family from Versailles to Paris after the Women's March on Versailles in October 1789. Described as "extremely unpopular", she left France in early 1791, during a flood of nobles emigrating after the departure of the Mesdames de France, after which her office was given to Madame d'Ossun.[2]

She spent the following years in Germany and the Austrian Netherlands. She eventually returned to France, and died in Paris.

References

1. Madame Campan, Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France
2. Hardy, B. C. (Blanche Christabel), The Princesse de Lamballe; a biography, 1908, Project Gutenberg