Marie Brulart

Marie Brulart, Duchesse de Luynes (1684 - 1763) was a French courtier, she was the daughter of Nicolas Brulart, marquis de la Borde and his wife Marie Bouthillier. She was married firstly (1704) to Louis Joseph de Bethune, marquis de Charost (1681 - 1709), who was killed fighting against the British forces of the Duke of Marlborough at the Battle of Malplaquet, four days after the marquise had given birth to their only child, Marie Therese de Bethune-Charost (1709 - 1716), who died a child.

The marquise de Charost remarried as her second husband (and his second wife) Charles Philippe d'Albert, fourth Duc de Luynes (1695 - 1758). The duchesse de Luynes was a close friend to Queen Maria Leszczyńska, the wife of Louis XV, whom she attended at Versailles as dame d'atour (lady-in-waiting) for nearly thirty years (1735 - 1763). Her husband left memoirs of the couple's life at court, leaving many interesting observations of the royal family, and of the king's mistress, Madame de Pompadour, whom the duke and duchesse appear to have grown to respect over a period of time, though this grudging admiration did not affect the duchesse's friendship or loyalty to Queen Marie. The duchesse died aged seventy-nine, and was the mother, by her second marriage, of Marie Charles Louis d'Albert, Duc de Chevreuse (1717 - 1771).

ources

*Europaische Stammtafeln, Vol VII - Table 61, Detlev Schwennicke, Marburg (1979)
*N. Mitford, Madame de Pompadour, London (1954)