Charles de Chambrun (1875–1952): Difference between revisions

{{Infobox

| honorific_prefix = [[His Excellency]]

| name = Charles de Chambrun

| image = Charles de Chambrun.jpg

| caption =

| office = [[List of ambassadors of France to Italy|French Ambassador to Italy]]

| =

| term_end = 1936

| predecessor =

| successor = Jules François Blondel

| office1 = [[List of ambassadors of France to Turkey|French Ambassador to Turkey]]

| term_start1 = 1928

| =

| predecessor1 = [[Émile Daeschner]]

| successor1 = [[Albert Kammerer]]

| = [[France|French]]

| =

| term_end2 = 1926

| predecessor2 = [[Henri Chassain de Marcilly]]

| successor2 = [[Louis Frédéric Clément-Simon]]

| birth_name = Louis Charles Pineton de Chambrun

| birth_date = {{birth date|1875|02|10|df=yes}}

| birth_place = [[Washington, D.C.]], [[United States]]

| death_date = {{death date and age|1952|11|06|1875|02|10|df=yes}}

| death_place = [[Paris]], [[France]]

| =

| nationality = [[France|French]]

| =

| known_for = Member of the [[Académie française]]

|

| alma_mater =

| occupation = Diplomat, writer

| party =

| spouse = {{marriage|[[Marie de Rohan-Chabot]]<br>|1934|1951|reason=died}}

| children =

| parents = [[Adolphe de Chambrun|Charles-Adolphe de Chambrun]]<br/>Marthe Tircuy de Corcelle

| relatives [[Pierre de ]] (brother)<br/>[[René de Chambrun]] (nephew)

'''Charles Pineton de Chambrun''' (10 February 1875 – 6 November 1952) was a French diplomat and writer.

== Early life==

Chambrun was born on 10 February 1875 in [[Washington, D.C.]], where his father, [[Adolphe de Chambrun|Charles-Adolphe de Chambrun]], [[Marquis of Chambrun]], was a judicial counsellor at the [[Embassy of France, Washington, D.C.]]<ref name="centraliaobit">{{cite news|title=Marquis de Chambrun Dead. Noted French Lawyer Residing in New York Passes Away|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/38305194/?terms=%22Adolphe%2Bpineton%22|accessdate=August 7, 2016|work=The Centralia Entreprise and Tribune|location=Centralia, Wisconsin|date=September 19, 1891|page=2|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|url-access=registration }}</ref><ref name="wisconsindead">{{cite news|title=Marquis de Chambrun Dead.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/10807811/?terms=%22Adolphe%2Bpineton%22|accessdate=August 7, 2016|work=The Weekly Wisconsin|location=Milwaukee, Wisconsin|date=September 19, 1891|page=9|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|url-access=registration }}</ref> His mother was Marie Henriette Hélène ''Marthe'' Tircuy de Corcelle (a great-granddaughter of the [[Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette]]). His siblings included [[Pierre de Chambrun]], Marquis of Chambrun (who married American heiress Margaret Rives Nichols);<ref name="1954Obit">{{cite news |last1=Times |first1=Special to The New York |title=DE CHAMBRUN, 88, DIPLOMAT, IS DEAD; Marquis, an Ex-Senator, Was Descendant of Lafayette Opposed Petain in Vichy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/08/25/archives/dg-chabrtll-88-diplomat-i8-dehd-marquis-an-exsenator-was-descendant.html?searchResultPosition=4 |access-date=28 June 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=25 August 1954}}</ref> General Count [[Aldebert de Chambrun (1872-1962)|Aldebert de Chambrun]] (who married [[Clara Eleanor Longworth]], a cousin of Pierre's wife who was sister-in-law to [[Alice Roosevelt Longworth]]);<ref>{{cite news |title=Gen. Count de Chambrun Dies; A Descendant of Lafayette, 89 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/04/24/archives/gen-count-de-chambrun-dies-a-descendant-of-lafayette-89.html?searchResultPosition=2 |access-date=28 June 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=24 April 1962}}</ref><ref name="Hutchison1936">{{cite news |last1=Hutchison |first1=Percy |title=Stars and Stripes and Tricolor; The International Memoirs of the Countess de Chambrun SHADOWS LIKE MYSELF. By the Countess de Chambrun. 348 pp. Illustrated. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. $3.75. The Countess de Chambrun |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/10/11/archives/stars-and-stripes-and-tricolor-the-international-memoirs-of-the.html?searchResultPosition=3 |access-date=28 June 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=11 October 1936}}</ref> and Thérèse [[Pineton de Chambrun family|de Chambrun]] (who married explorer [[Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza]]).<ref name="Berenson2011">{{cite book |last1=Berenson |first1=Edward |title=Heroes of Empire: Five Charismatic Men and the Conquest of Africa |date=2011 |publisher=[[Univ of California Press]] |isbn=978-0-520-27258-3 |page=283 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Heroes_of_Empire/l7MwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA283 |access-date=28 June 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

Through his brother Aldebert, he was uncle to Count [[René de Chambrun]], the French-American lawyer and businessman who married [[Josée Laval]] (a daughter of [[Prime Minister of France|Prime Minister]] [[Pierre Laval]]).<ref>{{cite news |last1=TIMES |first1=Wireless to THE NEW YORK |title=Mlle. Laval, French Premier's Daughter, Betrothed to Count Rene de Chambrun |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1935/07/01/archives/mlle-laval-french-premiers-daughter-betrothed-to-count-rene-de.html?searchResultPosition=11 |access-date=28 June 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=1 July 1935}}</ref><ref name="1940Aide">{{cite news |title=FRENCH AIDE HERE ON YANKEE CLIPPER; Count Rene de Chambrun, New Military Attache to Embassy, a Hereditary American ADMIRAL COURTNEY ABOARD 16 Passengers Brought In by Flying Boat After Delays at Horta and Bermuda |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1940/06/13/archives/french-aide-here-on-yankee-clipper-count-rene-de-chambrun-new.html?searchResultPosition=9 |access-date=28 June 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=13 June 1940}}</ref>

==Career==

[[File:Count Chas. de Chambrun, (8-1-22) LOC npcc.06788.tif|thumb|left|150px|Count de Chambrun, 1922]]

In 1914, he became First Secretary at the St Petersburg embassy, and later served in Athens and Vienna.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rappaport|first=Helen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ao-GCwAAQBAJ&q=pg%3DPP16|title=Caught in the Revolution: Petrograd, 1917|date=2016-08-25|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-1-4735-1817-9|language=en|quote=Chambrun, Charles de (1875–1952). French diplomat and writer; First Secretary at Petrograd embassy from 1914.}}</ref> From 1928 to 1933, he represented France in Ankara and then became ambassador to Rome from 1933 to 1935.

In March 1937, as he was about to board the train to Brussels with his wife, [[Magda Fontanges]], the former mistress of [[Benito Mussolini]], shot him twice at the [[Gare du Nord]] because she thought he was behind her expulsion from Italy. [[Maître]] [[René Floriot]] defended Fontanges, who only served a one-year suspended prison sentence for her crime.<ref name="1937Shoots">{{cite news |last1=TIMES |first1=Wireless to THE NEW YORK |title=Woman Shoots Diplomat in Paris Station; Mystery Surrounds Attack on de Chambrun |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1937/03/18/archives/woman-shoots-diplomat-in-paris-station-mystery-surrounds-attack-on.html?searchResultPosition=6 |access-date=28 June 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=18 March 1937}}</ref><ref name="1937Sane">{{cite news |last1=TIMES |first1=Wireless to THE NEW YORK |title=CHAMBRUN ATTACKER SANE; Alienists Find Woman Who Shot Count Mentally Responsible |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1937/06/29/archives/chambrun-attacker-sane-alienists-find-woman-who-shot-count-mentally.html?searchResultPosition=5 |access-date=28 June 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=29 June 1937}}</ref>

===Académie française===

With [[Paul Claudel]], [[Maurice Garçon]], [[Marcel Pagnol]], [[Jules Romains]] and [[Henri Mondor]], he was one of six people elected on 4 April 1946 to the [[Académie française]] in the second group election to fill the numerous empty seats caused by the lack of elections during the German occupation of France.

Chambrun was a Grand officer of the [[Légion d'Honneur]].

==Personal life==

[[File:La Princesse Lucien Murat.png|thumb|right|Photograph of his wife, the Princess Murat, 1926]]

While in Rome, he married [[Marie de Rohan-Chabot|''Marie'' Augustine de Rohan-Chabot]] (1876–1951) at the Capitol building in Rome.<ref>« L'autre soir à table Marie de Chambrun lâche un pet. Chambrun : "Vous parlez encore pour ne rien dire !" Jean COCTEAU / Journal (1942–1945) / Gallimard 1989</ref> The widow of [[Lucien, 3rd Prince Murat#Descendants|Prince Lucien Murat]],<ref name="1933Obit">{{cite news |title=PRINCE LUCIEN MURAT DIES IN EXILE AT 63; Russian Refugee in Morocco Descendant of One-Time King of Naples. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1933/12/21/archives/prince-lucien-murat-dies-in-exile-at-63-russian-refugee-in-morocco.html|work=[[The New York Times]] |date=21 December 1933}}</ref> she was a daughter of the Alain [[House of Rohan-Chabot|de Rohan-Chabot]], [[Duke of Rohan]], and Herminie, Duchess of Rohan ([[née]] de La Brousse de Verteillac).<ref name="1951Widow">{{cite news |title=Widow of Prince Murat |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1951/10/11/archives/widow-of-prince-murat.html|work=[[The New York Times]] |date=11 October 1951}}</ref> She was a writer, galleriste and landscape and portrait painter.<ref name="1934October">{{cite news |last1=TIMES |first1=Wireless to THE NEW YORK |title=WEDDING IN OCTOBER FOR PRINCESS MURAT; Former Marie de Rohan-Chabot Will Be Bride of Count Charles de Chambrun. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1934/08/01/archives/wedding-in-october-for-princess-murat-former-marie-de-rohanchabot.html?searchResultPosition=1 |access-date=28 June 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=1 August 1934}}</ref><ref name="1934Wedding">{{cite news |title=PRINCESS MURAT WED TO DIPLOMAT; Widow of Prince Lucien Is Bride in Rome of Count Charles de Chambrun. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1934/11/23/archives/priness-murat-wed-to-diplomat-widow-of-prince-lucien-is-bride-in.html?searchResultPosition=2 |access-date=28 June 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=23 November 1934}}</ref> Her older sister, Marie-Joséphine de Rohan-Chabot, was the wife of Louis de Talleyrand-Périgord (grandson of [[Louis de Talleyrand-Périgord]] and nephew of [[Boson de Talleyrand-Périgord]]).<ref name="1926Shop">{{cite news |title=PRINCESS OPENS A SHOP.; Duke de Rohan's Sister to Sell Books and Serve Tea. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1926/04/18/archives/princess-opens-a-shop-duke-de-rohans-sister-to-sell-books-and-serve.html|work=[[The New York Times]] |date=18 April 1926}}</ref>

The Countess de Chambrun died in Paris on 10 October 1951.<ref name="1951Obit">{{cite news |title=MME. DE CHAMBURN, WIFE OF EX-ENVOY; French Author Dies in Paris-- Countess' Husband Served as Ambassador to Italy |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1951/10/11/89815044.html?pageNumber=37 |access-date=28 June 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=11 Oct 1951 |language=en}}</ref> Count de Chambrun died at his residence in Paris on 6 November 1952.<ref name="1952Obit">{{cite news |last1=TIMES |first1=Special to THE NEW YORK |title=COUNT CHAMBRUN, FRENCH DIPLOMAT; Pro-War Ambassador to Rome Dies in Paris--Served in Many Posts in Europe |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1952/11/07/archives/count-hanibrun-french-diploat-prowar-abassador-to-rome-dies-in.html?searchResultPosition=1 |access-date=28 June 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=7 November 1952}}</ref>

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