energetic in these roles - hence his saying "I would like to sleep more quickly" ("Je voudrais dormir plus vite"). In politics, nevertheless, his views were rather conservative, if one judges by his "Réflexions sur l'esprit public", addressed to the King in 1785 - for him, monarchy's difficulties were summed up as a problem of authority; it was enough to show firmness and everything would be back in order. French Revolution In 1787, he participated in the Assembly of Notables. On July 13, 1789, pressed to re-accept the ministry of the Navy by the king, he refused it. He emigrated on October 20 and took advantage of the hospitality of Jacques Necker at Coppet. In 1792, at the time of the Prussian invasion of the Champagne, he and the marshal of Broglie commanded a corps in the princes' army. He continued to serve as principal secretary to the count of Provence. He died in 1801 at the home of his old enemy Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, now his friend. He possessed a property at Antony where Parc Heller now is, as well as a castle at Ollainville, which he enlarged in 1782. In Paris, he installed himself in the hôtel de Castries in 1743, at 72 rue de Varenne, and in 1761 redecorated it out of a large inheritance from his uncle, the marshal of Belle-Isle. Descendants On 19 December 1743, he married Gabrielle Isabeau Thérèse de Rozet de Rocozel de Fleury, daughter of the duc de Fleury, and they had two children: Charles de La Croix de Castries (1756–1842) ; Adélaïde Marie de La Croix de Castries, who married the vicomte de Mailly in 1767. He showed himself an unfaithful husband, cheated frequently on his wife. See also Castries House of Castries External links Genealogy Bibliography René de Castries, Le Maréchal de Castries, Paris, Flammarion, 1956. 1727 births 1801 deaths Counts of France Politicians from Paris House of Castries Secretaries of State of the Navy (France) Members of the French Academy of Sciences Garde Écossaise officers