Choiseul Amboise

Choiseul-Amboise. Etienne Francois, Duc de Choiseul et d'Amboise, was born in 1719, and as Comte de Stainville entered the French army, rising ultimately to the rank of general. Having won the good graces of Madame de Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV., he was named ambassador to Rome and Vienna, and in 1758 received the portfolio of foreign affairs with a dukedom. His influence with the king was unbounded. In 1760 he expelled the Jesuits from France. He is credited with having stirred up the British colonies to revolt, and with drawing up the Family Compact between the Bourbons in 1761. Resigning the foreign ministry to his cousin the Duc de Praslin, he took charge both of the military and naval departments, and in 1763 concluded the Treaty of Paris. After La Pompadour's death he ventured to show contempt for Madame du Barry, the new favourite, and therefore was driven from power in 1770. He spent the rest of his life at Chanteloup or in Paris, surrounded by a literary and artistic circle, and often consulted by the king on political affairs. Voltaire was one of his friends. He died in 1785, leaving no children. The memoirs attributed to him are not authentic.