He was a descendant of the catholic saint Pierre de Nolasque, the foundator of the Order of our Lady of Mercy. His father, a minister and diplomat of the king Louis XIV of France, was the ambassador to England during the reign of George II. He was styled Knight of the Order of the Garter and became a Member of Parliament. On 12 August 1751, he married the English noble Suzanne Beauclerk, (bastard daughter of Charles Beauclerk, 2nd Duke of St Albans, and Marie-Françoise de La Rochefoucauld-Fontpastour), and he had two children: