Anne-Adrien-Pierre de Montmorency, 1st Duke of San Fernando Luis, 3rd Duke of Laval-Montmorency, GE (29 October 1768, in Paris – 16 June 1837, in Paris), was a peer of France and of Spain.
He was an heir of the noble families of Montmorency and of Laval, styled Marquis de Laval then Prince de Montmorency-Laval before succeeding to his father's titles in 1817. He was additionally created a grandee of Spain and Duke of San Fernando Luis.
Shortly after starting at the seminary of the Saint-Sulpice in Paris, his elder brother Guy de Montmorency, marquis de Laval, died unexpectedly in 1786; he had married Pauline-Renée-Sophie de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson in 1784. His brother's death, prompted him to leave church training and participate in court life at Versailles.
Upon the outbreak of the French Revolution, after locating remaining family members in Paris, Adrien de Laval fled to England. As a French émigré in London, the marquis became friendly with the Prince of Wales and his circle.
During the revolutionary wars his father appointed him as aide-de-camp and despatched him to Italy as a captain in the Montmorency Regiment being stationed at Rome. After the ban on émigrés was lifted in 1800 he returned to France. Adrien de Laval was one of the first to congratulate Louis XVIII at Calais in 1814, and the king promoted him maréchal de camp (major-general) and bestowed on him the style of Prince de Montmorency-Laval; he succeeded to his father's dukedom in 1817.
On 15 August 1814, he was appointed French ambassador to Spain. There he came into conflict with Ceballos. But on receiving news of the return of Napoleon from Elba, a reconciliation was effected and Montmorency-Laval agreed to stay in Madrid, contrary to instructions from the French government. He successfully managed the somewhat tense relations between the Spanish Borbóns and the newly restored French Bourbons, being honoured in 1815 as a knight of the Golden Fleece and made Duke of San Fernando Luis with the rank of grandee. His next ambassadorial posting was to Rome, where he arrived just before the end of Pius VII's reign and was present during the conclave for the election of his successor as pope; he supported the efforts of Austria in favour of Cardinal Castiglioni's candidacy. However, Cardinal Annibale della Genga was elected as Leo XII.
Declining to swear allegiance to King Louis-Philippe, the Duke and Duchess retired to the chateau de Montigny, where they received visitors, including Talleyrand. The Duke died on 16 June 1837 and, having been predeceased by his son at Naples in 1819, his youngest brother Eugène succeeded to his French titles before they became extinct, whereas his Spanish ducado and grandeza devolved upon his elder daughter and her descendants.
« Anne Adrien Pierre de Montmorency-Laval », in Louis-Gabriel Michaud, Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne: histoire par ordre alphabétique de la vie publique et privée de tous les hommes avec la collaboration de plus de 300 savants et littérateurs français ou étrangers, 2e édition, 1843–1865 [détail de l’édition]
« Montmorency (Anne-Adrien-Pierre de) », in Pierre Larousse, Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle