Concept
René de La Croix de Castries (ʁəne də la kʁwa də kastʁ; 1908 – 1986) was a French historian and a member of the House of Castries. He was the sixteenth member elected to occupy seat 2 of the Académie française in 1972. He wrote under the pen name Duc de Castries, a courtesy title drawn from his family’s extinct dukedom. René de la Croix de Castries was born on 6 August 1908 in La Bastide-d'Engras, Gard, France. He grew up in a castle in Gaujac, Gard, and attended school in Nîmes and Versailles. He studied Political Science and Public Finance. He served in the Second World War. He was sent to Lebanon in 1939, and returned to France in 1940. He served as Mayor of Castries from 1941 to 1950. He moved to Paris in 1951. He gave lectures at the Cercle de l'Union interalliée, and served as Vice-President of the Société des gens de lettres in 1964. He was appointed to the Académie française on 4 May 1972, becoming the 35th Duke to join the institution. Castries married Monique de Casagne in 1934. The following year, he bought the family castle, Château de Castries, in Castries, Hérault, near Montpellier. In 1985, he gave the Château de Castries to the Académie française. He died on 17 July 1986. Mademoiselle de Méthamis (Calmann-Lévy, 1945) Monsieur de Gerland (Jean Vigneau, 1947) Les Ténèbres extérieures (Editions La Colombe, 1951) Le Maréchal de Castries (Fayard, 1956) Languedoc méditerranéen (with André Chamson, Hachette, 1956) Le Château de Castries (André Barry, 1958) Le Testament de la Monarchie. Tome I : L’indépendance américaine (Fayard, 1958) Le Testament de la Monarchie. Tome II : L’Agonie de la Royauté (Fayard, 1959) Les Rencontres de Stanley (Éditions France-Empire, 1960) Mirabeau ou l’échec du Destin (Fayard, 1960) Le Règne de Louis XVI (Club du livre, 1961) Le Testament de la Monarchie. Tome III : Les Émigrés (Fayard, 1962) Maurice de Saxe (Fayard, 1963) La Conspiration de Cadoudal (Del Duca, 1964) Les Guerres de Louis XIV et de Louis XV (Plon-Perrin, 1964) Le Testament de la Monarchie.
