Anne Darpajon

Vocation

Notable

Family

French aristocrat and dame d'honneur to Queens of France, Marie Leszczyńska and Marie Antoinette. She was called "Madame Etiquette" by Marie Antoinette for her insistence that no minutia of court etiquette ever be altered or disregarded. Her father, Louis de Sévérac, Marquis of Arpajon-sur-Cère (1667–1736), bought the Marquisat of Saint-Germain-lès-Châtres in 1720, and was granted permission by Philippe d'Orléans (régent for Louis XV), to rename it Saint-Germain-lès-Arpajon, and its seat Arpajon. Her mother, Anne Charlotte Le Bas de Montargis, was lady in waiting to the Duchess of Berry, daughter of the regent. Anne Claude married Philippe de Noailles, Duke of Mouchy, Captain of the Hunts at Versailles, on 27 November 1741. They had six children. Noailles was one of the leading families of France. Marie Antoinette greatly disliked her, as she prevented her from doing things she liked with reference to court etiquette. In 1774, when Marie Antoinette became a queen, she fired the Countess of Noailles, prompting her to become a part of the noble opposition to the queen with the Kings' aunts, Mesdames, at Bellevue. Countess Anne and her husband Philippe were guillotined during the French Revolution on 27 June 1794. Many of her relatives met the same fate. Link to Wikipedia biography (French)