Alexandre Marie Eleonor of Saint-Mauris, count of Montbarrey, then prince of Montbarrey and of the Holy Roman Empire (1774), grandee of Spain of first class (1780), knight of the Holy Spirit, lieutenant general (1780), born in Besançon on 20 April 1732. He belonged to a family from Franche-Comté (Dole), ennobled in 1537 by letter of the Emperor Charles V in the person of Jean of Saint-Mauris, doctor of Law, professor at the University of Dole and counselor at the parliament of Dole, and finally chief of the State Council of the Netherlands under Charles V and Philip II. The prince of Montbarrey was very proud about the origin of the nobility of his family and imbued with his titles of prince and grandee of Spain newly acquired (he paid 100,000 pounds for his title of prince of the Holy Rom