Biography
Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron was born in Paris in the reign of King Louis XV. Her parents were Jean François Gabriel, count of Polastron, seigneur de Noueilles, Venerque and Grépiac, and Jeanne Charlotte Hérault. As was customary with aristocrats, most of whom bore more than one Christian name, she was generally known by the last of her names (Gabrielle). She was born into a family of ancient aristocratic lineage, however by the time of Gabrielle's birth, despite their exalted ancestry, the family were encumbered by many debts and their lifestyle was far from luxurious.
Whilst Gabrielle was still an infant, her parents moved to the family château of Noueilles, in the province of Languedoc in southern France. At the age of three, she lost her mother and her welfare was therefore entrusted to a female relative. In this case, it was an aunt, who arranged for her to receive a convent education.
At the age of sixteen, Gabrielle was betrothed to Jules François Armand, comte de Polignac, marquis de Mancini (1746-1817), whom she married on 7 July 1767, a few months short of her eighteenth birthday. Jules de Polignac's family had a similarly "well-bred" ancestry to Gabrielle's, and they were in equally uncomfortable financial straits. At the time of his marriage, he was serving in the Régiment de Royal Dragons ("1er régiment de dragons"), on an annual salary of 4,000 livres. Within a few years of the marriage, Jules and Gabrielle had two children: a daughter, Aglaé, and a son. Two more sons followed several years later, including Jules, prince de Polignac who became the prime minister of France in 1829, under Charles X.
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