Portrait of his mother, Élisabeth de Montmorency-Laval
Sosthène was born on 1 September 1825 in Paris, France. He was the second son of Sosthènes I de La Rochefoucauld (1785–1864) and Elisabeth-Hélène-Pierre de Montmorency Laval (1790–1834). After his mother's death, his father married Angélique Herminie de La Brousse de Verteillac, in 1841.[a] His elder brother was Stanislas de La Rochefoucauld, 3rd Duke of Doudeauville.[2]
He was a Representative of Sarthe from 1871 to 1876, Deputy for Sarthe from 1876 to 1898. He also served as General Councilor and President of the General Council of Sarthe. From 1873 to 1874, he served as Ambassador of France to the United Kingdom.
Rochefoucauld was admitted to the Jockey-Club de Paris in 1856, and was elected vice-president in 1877. In 1884, he became president and remained so until his death in 1908. He was also a member of several other Parisian clubs, including the Société de l'histoire de France. His son, Armand, was also president of the Jockey Club for more than forty years from 1919 to 1962, and his great-grandson, Roland du Luart, has been president since 2014.
After his father died at the family's Château d'Armainvilliers in 1864, his elder brother succeeded to the dukedom of Doudeauville. Both of his brother's sons predeceased him, however, so upon Stanislas's death in 1887, he became the 4th Duke of Doudeauville. From this title, he was also a Grandee of Spain.
The Duke of Doudeauville inherited the Hôtel de La Rochefoucauld-Doudeauville at 47 Rue de Varenne in the 7th arrondissement (today the Italian Embassy). He hired French architect Henri Parent to renovate the Hôtel by putting up panelling (originally in the Château de Bercy) and creating a chapel, a winter garden, a dining room, stables for 25 horses, two rooms for eight carriages, two cellars and a grand staircase ("escalier d'honneur") panelled with polychromatic marble plaques that was inspired by the Queen's staircase at the Palace of Versailles.
Portrait of his eldest daughter, Yolande de La Rochefoucauld, Duchess of Luynes, by C.C. after Alexandre CabanelPortrait of his second wife, Princess Marie of Ligne, by Léon Bonnat, 1898Portrait of his youngest son, Édouard, by Gabriel Ferrier, c. 1908
On 6 April 1848, he married Princess Yolande of Polignac (1830–1855) in Paris. She was a daughter of Prime Minister Prince Jules de Polignac and the Hon. Mary Charlotte Parkyns (a daughter of the 1st Baron Rancliffe). Before her death on 15 March 1855, they were the parents of:[6]
Marie de La Rochefoucauld (1871–1952), who married Henri Eugène François Marie d'Harcourt, 10th Duke of Harcourt.[6]
Édouard François Marie de La Rochefoucauld (1874–1968), 2nd Duke of Bisaccia who married Camille de Colbert-Chabanais, a daughter of Édouard de Colbert, 3rd Baron de Colbert, Marquis de Chabannais, and Françoise Marie Auguste von Berckheim.[6]
Through his son Armand, he was a grandfather of Sosthènes III de La Rochefoucauld (1897–1970), 6th Duke of Doudeauville, who married Countess Leonor de Saavedra of Torrehermosa; and Armand Charles François Marie de La Rochefoucauld (1902–1995), 7th Duke of Doudeauville, who married Esther Millicent Clarke (and had a natural son with Clémentine Elisabeth Brandt).
Through his youngest son Édouard, he was a grandfather of Marie-Carmen de La Rochefoucauld (1902–1999), who married Count of Mailly-Nesles; Count Stanislas of La Rochefoucauld (1903–1965), who married Sophie Alice Cocea and Princess Jeanne Princess of San Felice de Viggiano; and Elisabeth de La Rochefoucauld (1909–2006), who married Elliot Robert Le Gras du Luart de Montsaulnin and Mario Fausto Maria Pinci.
References
Notes
^Angélique Herminie de La Brousse de Verteillac (1797–1881), was the daughter of François-Gabriel-Thibault of La Brousse de Verteillac, Marquis de Verteillac, Baron de La Tour Blanche, and Charlotte Félicité Élisabeth Tiercelin d'Appelvoisin. She was the widow of Félix de Bourbon-Conti (recognized natural son of Louis François, Prince of Conti). When her first husband died in 1840, she inherited Hôtel de Boisgelin (which later became known as the Hôtel de La Rochefoucauld-Doudeauville).[1]
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