[1] Antoine Louis Marie de Gramont was born on 17 August 1775, in Paris, France.

[2] He served as a captain in the Royal Garde du Corps before fleeing to Britain at the outset of the French Revolution.

In 1805 he joined the British 10th Light Dragoons as a cornet,[3] was promoted to lieutenant later that year[4] and made captain of a troop in 1809,[5] serving in the Peninsular War.

He remained loyal to the House of Bourbon, becoming a military commander under Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême.

He later served briefly as French ambassador to the Court of St James's under the Bourbon Restoration.