Élisabeth de Gramont
Élisabeth de Gramont | |
|---|---|
| Duchess of Clermont-Tonnerre | |
Photograph of Elisabeth de Gramont by Nadar | |
| Born | Antonia Corisande Élisabeth de Gramont 23 April 1875 Nancy, French Third Republic |
| Died | 6 December 1954 Paris, France |
| Buried | Ancy-le-Franc |
| Noble family | de Gramont |
| Spouse(s) |
Philibert, Duke of Clermont-Tonnerre
(m. 1896; div. 1920) |
| Issue | Béatrix de Clermont Tonnerre Diane de Clermont Tonnerre |
| Father | Agénor de Gramont, 11th Duke of Gramont |
| Mother | Princesse Isabelle de Beauvau-Craon |
| Occupation | Author |
Antoinette Corisande Élisabeth, Duchess of Clermont-Tonnerre (née de Gramont; 23 April 1875 – 6 December 1954) was a French writer of the early 20th century, best known for her long-term lesbian relationship with Natalie Clifford Barney, an American writer. Élisabeth de Gramont had grown up among the highest aristocracy; when she was a child, according to Janet Flanner, "peasants on her farm... begged her not to clean her shoes before entering their houses". She looked back on this lost world of wealth and privilege with little regret, and became known as the "red duchess" for her support of socialism and feminism.
She was a close friend, and sometimes critic of writer Marcel Proust, whom she first met in 1903.