GRAMONT, PHILIBERT, COMTE DE (1621-1707), the subject of the famous Memoirs, came of a noble Gascon family, said to have been of Basque origin. His grandmother, Diane d'Andouins, comtesse de Gramont, was "la belle Corisande," a mistress of Henry IV. The grandson assumed that his father Antoine II. de Gramont, viceroy of Navarre, was the son of Henry IV. Philibert was educated for the church at the college of Pau, in Bearn, but he joined the army of Prince Thomas of Savoy, then besieging Trino in Piedmont. He afterwards served under his elder half-brother, Antoine, marshal de Gramont, and the prince of Conde. He favoured Conde's party at the beginning of the Fronde, but changed sides before he was too severely com promised. During the Commonwealth he visited England, and in 1662 was exiled from Paris for paying court to Mademoiselle de la Motte Houdancourt, one of the king's mistresses. He found a congenial atmosphere at the court of Charles II., and married in London, under pressure from her two brothers, Elizabeth Hamil ton, the sister of his future biographer and one of the great beauties of the English court. In 1664 he was allowed to return to France. He revisited England in 167o in connection with the sale of Dunkirk, and again in 1671 and 1676. In 1688 he was sent by Louis XIV. to congratulate James II. on the birth of an heir. In 1696 he had a dangerous illness, during which he became reconciled to the church. He was 8o years old when he supplied his brother-in-law, Anthony Hamilton, with the materials for his Memoires. He died on Jan. Io, 1707, and the Memoires appeared six years later.
Hamilton's portrait of Gramont is drawn with such skill that the count, in spite of his biographer's candour, imposes by his grand air on the reader much as he did on his contemporaries. The book is the most entertaining of contemporary memoirs, and gives a vivid, truthful, and graceful description of the licentious court of Charles II. His scandalous tongue knew no restraint, and he was a privileged person who was allowed to state even the most un pleasing truths to Louis XIV. Saint-Simon in his memoirs describes the relief felt at court when the old man's death was announced. See also HAMILTON, ANTHONY.
Memoires de la vie du comte de Grammont were printed in Holland with the inscription Cologne, 1713. Other editions followed in 1715 and 1716. An Eng. trs. by Mr. [Abel] Boyer (1714) was supplemented by a "compleat key" in 1719. The Memoires "augmentees de notes et d'eclaircissemens" were edited by Horace Walpole in 1772. Among more modern editions are those by Sir Walter Scott (1846) , frequently reprinted; by H. Vizetelly (1889) , and G. G. Goodwin (1903) . See also R. Clark, Anthony Hamilton, Author of Memoirs of Count Gramont (1921) .