His mother, Anne Marguerite de Ligneville, was the mistress of Leopold I, Duke of Lorraine, husband of Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans (niece of Louis XIV).

The next year, on 14 March, he married again; this time to Marie Charlotte Sylvie de Rohan-Chabot, a cousin of Charles, Prince of Soubise.

He entered military service for France and was made a lieutenant of the cavalry on 10 December 1738; colonel of the guard (Lorraine) on 1 May 1740 and distinguished himself under the leadership of the Duke of Belle-Isle at the Siege of Prague in 1742.

A Grandee of Spain, first class from 11 May 1754, he became a Knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit, the highest decoration in Ancien régime France (1 January 1757).

The hôtel was built by the architect Nicolas Le Camus de Mézières around 1770 for Charles Juste.