Stanislas de Boufflers

His mother, Marie Catherine de Beauveau Craon, was the mistress of Stanislas Leszczynski, and the boy was brought up at the court of Lunéville.

He spent six months in study for the priesthood at Saint Sulpice, Paris, and during his residence there he circulated a story which became extremely popular, Aline, reine de Golconde.

He entered the order of the Knights of Malta so that he could follow the career of arms without sacrificing the revenues of a benefice he had received in Lorraine from King Stanislas.

He proved an excellent administrator, and attempted to mitigate the horrors of the slave trade; and he tried to open up the material resources of the colony so that his departure in 1787 was regarded as a real calamity by both colonists and Senegalese.

His paradoxical character was described in an epigram attributed to Antoine de Rivarol, "abbé libertin, militaire philosophe, diplomate chansonnier, émigré patriote, républicain courtisan.