Montrond, Casimir, Comte De
MONTROND, CASIMIR, COMTE DE (1768-1843), French diplomatic agent, was the son of a military officer; his mother, Angelique Marie d'Arlus, comtesse de Montrond (d. 1827), was a royalist writer, said to be the author of the Troubadour btarnois, a song which has the refrain " Louis, lefils de Henri, Est prisonnier dans Paris." Casimir was imprisoned in 1794 in St Lazare, where he met the divorced duchesse de Fleury (nee Franquetot de Coigny), the " jeune captive " of Andre Chenier's famous verses. He bought her freedom and his own with 100 louis. They married and crossed to London, but the union proved unhappy, and they were divorced on their return to Paris.
Turning to the fashionable world, Casimir de Montrond became famous for his successes. He was the confidant and political agent of Talleyrand, and his inside knowledge of politics enabled him to make a large fortune on the Bourse. In 1809 he was disgraced for some imprudent comments on the imperial system, and exiled from Paris. After spending some time at Antwerp he removed to Spa, where he was on intimate terms with Pauline Borghese, and in 1811 he returned to Antwerp; here he was arrested by Napoleon's orders and sent to the fortress of Ham. After a month's imprisonment he received permission to reside, under police supervision, at Chatillon-sur-Seine, whence he presently escaped to England. He returned to France at the first Bourbon restoration, and during the Hundred Days was entrusted with a mission to Vienna to convert Talleyrand to Napoleon's interests, to see Metternich and Nesselrode, and to bring back if possible Marie Louise and the king of Rome. The second restoration restored him to his social triumphs, though he was always under police supervision, and on Talleyrand's fall he accompanied him to Valenfay and continued to help with his intrigues. He followed Talleyrand to London in 1832. Montrond returned to Paris some time before his death in 1843.
See H. Welschinger, " L'Ami de M. de Talleyrand," in the Revue de Paris (Feb. 1895); Lanzac de Laborie, La Domination franfaise en Belgique (1895) ; and Amedee Pichot, Souvenirs sur M. de Talleyrand (1870).
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
