Isabeau Éléonore Irène Diane de Clermont-Tonnerre

### Born

5th April 1711, L'hôtel de Clermont, "69" rue de Varenne, Paris, Île-de-France, Grandelumérie

### Siblings

Louis-Georges Hippolyte de Clermont-Tonnerre

### Religion

Roman Catholicism

**Isabeau Éléonore Irène Diane de Clermont-Tonnerre** (April 5th 1709 - Présent), known as *Mademoiselle de Clermont*, is a Grandelumièrian noblewoman and *dame d'honneur*/*dame pour accompagner* to Laurène de Penthièvre (née Rochechouart de Mortemart)

"Impressive like the ruins of Rome and gracious like classical Athens", Mademoiselle de Clermont was clear evidence that pride and elegant refinement did not vanish with the first wrinkles. She had once a certain charm in youth, but that had seemed to have vanished. Though not bad-looking, *moyen-ȃge* crept ever closer. She had battled rheumatism and scoliosis.

Born in 1711 at Hôtel de Clermont, Diane de Clermont-Tonnerre was descended from an ancient lineage and as a child developed an almost obsessive pride over her impressive and distinguished ancestry. She was miserable, somewhat lazy and spiteful. This spinster refused to marry any man who was lesser than her own social standing. She was occasionally called: "Madame Cobée", the cobée flower being the symbol of a venomous gossip.

## Biography

### **Youth**

Isabeau Éléonore Irène Diane de Clermont-Tonnerre was born on the 5th April 1711, at L'hôtel de Clermont, "69" rue de Varenne, Paris, Île-de-France, Grandelumière to Maréchal Pierre-Gaspard de Clermont-Tonnerre, Comte de Saint-Cassin, and Gabrielle Françoise d'O, Comtesse de Saint-Cassin, Dame d'accompagnement de la Duchesse d'Orléans. Diane, or more formally, Mademoiselle de Clermont, possessed the blood of the distinguished and ancient Clermont-Tonnerre (est.1100) who derived from Dauphiné (Dauphiné Viennois). Her namesake were varied: Isabeau de Bavière, Éléonore d'Aquitaine, and Sainte Irène de Thessalonica, the latter whose *jour de fête* she was born. Diane had an elder brother, Louis-Georges Hippolyte de Clermont-Tonnerre, who died at the tender age of 6 in 1714.

Mademoiselle de Clermont spent much of her youth with the abundant nieces of Louis Chrétien, Cardinal Mortemart, who were nicknamed *Les Mortemarettes*, at L'abbaye de Saint-Germain-des-Prés where she received an education superior to any Princesse du Sang or Fil de Grandelumière. In the company of *Les Mortemarettes*, she learned everything necessary to become a *grand-dame* of the court and how to be equipped with a quick-wit and sharp tongue.

### **Adolescence**

In 1728, due to her connections to *Les Mortemarettes*, she joined the court at Argenteuil and was appointed as a *fille d'honneur* to Empress Marie IV. Mademoiselle de Clermont, made quite the impression at court and was a staunch member of the Mortemarette circle who were known for stirring up continuous scandal. This would be quite ironic since the surviving members of the Mortemarette circle would look down on the scandalmongering and etiquette breaking young. Lively and beautiful, all the young men at one time flocked to her and loved to partake in excessive flirting with Marie-Clémence Gabrielle, now Marquise de Montespan, which earned her the nickname *La Bondé*.

Marie-Augustine Laurène de Rochechouart de Mortemart, now Madame la Princesse via her marriage to the Penthièvreheir appointed her childhood girlfriend as her *dame d'honneur* in the mid 1730's. The two permanently harmonized and would stick together through thick and thin. Though in the company of each other from dawn till dusk, Argenteuil could be remarkably dull which meant most days were spent lounging around waiting for something to do. Understandably, they found it irresistible to indulge in practical jokes and pointless intrigues. *Mademoiselle* (Sophie-Thérèse), never liked at Argenteuil, was a common target in their practical jokes. On one occasion Madame la Princesse and her inner circle gathered snowballs. Then, using an extra key, they locked themselves in the chamber of Mademoiselle and threw snowballs on the sleeping woman. Another time, they tied the sleeves of Mademoiselle to her chair before a page put fireworks under it. This even made Cardinal Mortemart smile when the account was told to him.

### **Adulthood**

Diane never married. There never seemed any potential men of desired status available, and furthermore preferred to remain unmarried rather than to marry someone below her own status. She did have a "schoolgirlish" crush for a member of the Garde Impériale in 1740. This innocent flirtation began when she sent him her own snuff-box with a rather *risqué* message enclosed within it. The guardsman, not wanting the complex or unwelcome consequence which would undoubtedly follow, informed his superior who in turn informed Empress Marie IV, who recognised the handwriting of her former *fille d'honneur* which inevitably led to Diane being discovered. The Empress sent a note to the targeted guardsman: "you've fallen victim to the *ruses féminines* (female wiles) which is not your fault by any means. In order to not pipe the smoke, at once remove your person to some place far from the Court and remain there for a very long time."

The Duc de Bouillion was a prospective husband. Although quite handsome and apparently fiery, yet a bit timid, he was very proud of his rank. When Diane was asked if she loved him, she replied "I do not love him. He is not in fashion."

As time passed and passed, and her attractiveness waned and waned, she had but a few more opportunities to become married. The last *clouer dans le cercueil* where marriage was concerned was when the timeworn Comte de Gié was proposed as a possible husband in 1747. Gié had been born in the previous century, and in the words of the Comte de La Tour: "The roses of love and the laurels of glory had been showered on him throughout three reigns." It is no surprise that Diane and many others came to the conclusion that this match was slumming it.

The passing of Marie IV began a transitional period when it came to the moral and spiritual nature of Argenteuil. The young had taken prominence and were beginning to make their mark on the court. A libertine mood from Paris brought a sense of folly and intimacy which had not been seen since the time of Louis XIII. Though it would be a pronounced *faux paux* to underestimate the power that the old had at Argenteuil, especially when it came to the older women. A woman was generally supposed to grow old at 30, or at least lose the seduction of her beauty (although the admittance age for unmarried women to attend the annual debutante ball was actually for women over 27). The masculine point of view was crudely illustrated in a contemporary saying: "*A woman of 15 is a strongbox whose lock had to be forced*. *A woman of 30 is venison well ripe and good to put on the spit*. *A woman of 40 is a great bastion where the cannon had made more than a breach*. *And a woman of 50 was an old lantern in which one only places a wick with regret*." However, the bastions and the lanterns had, from the feminine point of view, lost neither their strength of character nor their influence with the passing of time.

Her close companionship with Madame la Princesse never faltered. The two had a rather monotonous existence when they became older. Diane's routine was recorded by her maid, Madame Genêt:

"*Waking between 6-7*, *she would dress informally*, *say her morning prayers*, *eat breakfast*, *and after that would visit Madame la Princesse*. *She arrived to greet her friend with a tender kiss on the cheek every morning*, *without fail*. *They drank coffee that the two had made between themselves which was a great novelty to them*. *Both women were dressed in a quite old-fashioned* *attire*: *each wore an enormous hoop*, *which set out a petticoat ornamented with gold or other such embroidery.* *They fastened a long train around their waists*, *and concealed the undress of the rest of their clothing by a long cloak of black taffety which enveloped them up to the chin*. *Then*, *after attending the Empress throughout the day and keeping busy with the court*, *they both returned to the apartment of Madame la Princesse*, *untied the strings of their petticoats and trains and resumed their tapestry*, *while I kept occupied with my book*."

### **Appearance & Countenance**

In 1734, Cardinal Mortemart, never an admirer of Diane since her association with his least favourite niece, wrote an account of her appearance in his meticulous correspondence:

"*Mlle. de Clermont is so vain of her own birth and her associations that one would though she had a permanent mirror suspended before her gaze. I supposed I'd be lying if I said she wasn't beautiful: her complexion, her throat, her arms, are admirable: she has a tolerable mouth, with beautiful teeth, somewhat long: and cheeks too broad and too pendant, which interfered with, but does not spoil her beauty. What disfigures her the most are her eyebrows, which are, so to speak, peeled and red, with very little hair; she has, however, fine eyelashes, with well-set, chestnut-coloured hair. Without being humpbacked or deformed, she has one side larger than the other, which causes her to walk awry: and this defect in her figure indicated another, which is more troublesome in society and which is an inconvenience to herself."*

When Mademoiselle de Clermont was brought up in conversation with the Duc de Choiseul he could only comment:

"*Honestly what a bitch*."

Her personality was extremely haughty, with a dominant and ambitious character with a strong will, who came to dominate others. She had abrupt manners, a harsh voice, and a short way of speaking, rendering her more than imposing. She carried the idea of the prerogative of rank to a high pitch. As time passed, she was described by Charles Edward Stuart as a "bitter old hag, who spent their day gossiping and knitting in the company of Madame la Princesse Douairière."

### **Enemies**

Diane's enemies outranked her close-aquaintences:

(Diane was mainly indifferent to all courtiers who weren't up to her social standing or of any interest to her personal gain: Dame de Bellebrune *par example*.)

* Alexandrine-Jeanne de Polignac, Mademoiselle de Polignac
* Anne Clémentine de Blois de Penthièvre, Mademoiselle de Chartres
* Anne Marie de Blois de Penthièvre, Mademoiselle d'Amboise
* Anne Thérèse, Princesse de Condé
* Auguste César-François de La Tour d'Auvergne, Duc de Boullion
* Edouard Joseph-León d'Albert de Luynes, Duc de Luynes
* Élisabeth Victoire de Salvert-Bellenave, Marquise de Beaupré
* Françoise Élisabeth Marguerite Zéphyrine de Pardaillan de Gondrin, Mademoiselle de Moncontour
* Gabriel-Alphonse Philippe de Choiseul, Marquis de Francières
* Gabrielle Antoinette de Voyer de Paulmy, Princesse de Montange
* Hélène-Athénaïs Valerie de Choiseul, Mademoiselle de Choiseul
* Jean Alphonse de Blois de Penthièvre, Comte de Guingamp
* Louis Alexandre Hercules de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Duc de Mortemart
* Louis Charles Emmanuel Marie, Monsieur le Prince
* Louis Philippe de Grandelumière, Monsieur
* Louis-Auguste Xavier de La Tour d'Auvergne, Duc de Boullion
* Louis-Baptiste Philippe de Rochechouart de Mortemart
* Louis Paul Jules de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marquis de Belle-Île
* Louis-Philippe Henri de Choiseul, Duc de Choiseul
* Louise Marie Antoinette d'Anjou, Duchesse de Mortemart
* Madeline-Clémence de Pardaillan de Gondrin, Duchesse de Boullion
* Marie Angélique de La Tour d'Auvergne, Mademoiselle d'Auvergne
* Marie-Rosalie Léonore-Raphaëlle d'O, Mademoiselle d'Ecquevilly
* Sophie Thérèse d'Orléans, Marquise de Vivonne
* Sophie-Françoise Hélène d'Angennes, Mademoiselle de Noyon

## Titles, Styles, and Honours

* **5th April 1711 - Présent** Mademoiselle de Clermont
* "**Madame Cobée**" (Nickname given her by contemporaries)