 Son of Laurent Grimod de La Reynière, he inherited the family fortune on the death of his father, a "fermier général", in 1793.He was a member of the .Though his father built a stylish house in Paris with a garden that looked onto the "bosquets" of the Champs-Élysées and kept a great table, the younger Grimod had been born with deformed hands and was kept out of sight, a circumstance that developed his biting wit and dark sense of humour.