Gaston d'Audiffret-Pasquier

He was preceded in his position by Félix Dupanloup and succeeded by Alexandre Ribot.

He was the grand-nephew and adopted son of Baron Etienne Denis Pasquier, an academician.

Under the Second Empire he was twice an unsuccessful candidate for the legislature, but was elected in February 1871 to the National Assembly of France, and became president of the Centre-right parliamentary group in 1873.

After the fall of Thiers, Audiffret-Pasquier directed the negotiations between the different royalist parties to establish the Comte de Chambord as King of France, but as Chambord refused to give up the white flag of the Bourbons in favor of the tricolor, the project failed.

Audiffret-Pasquier was distinguished by his moderation and uprightness; and he did his best to dissuade MacMahon from taking violent advisers.