HARCOURT, FRANÇOIS-EUCÈNE-GABRIEL, Duke of. – French diplomat, b. 22 Aug. 1786 at Jouy-en-Josas (Seine-et-Oise), d. 2 May 1865 in Paris. Having entered a military career, he resigned in 1820. Charged by the Philhellenic Committee with a mission to Charles X to obtain his intervention in favor of the Greek cause, he was unsuccessful. Elected deputy in 1827 and in 1830, he gave his support to the Orleanist monarchy after the July Revolution.
Appointed ambassador to Madrid, he resigned because he disapproved of Ferdinand VII’s antiliberal policy. Peer of France in 1837, he favored the gradual lowering of tariffs and opposed the project for the fortifications of Paris. In 1848, when Lamartine offered him the London embassy, he refused and instead went to Rome, where he represented the Second Republic until Sept. 1849. In the preparations for the departure of Pius IX for Gaeta, the Duke of H. was in full agreement with Baron Spaur and, together with Baron de Rayneval, was one of the French plenipotentiaries at the diplomatic conference of Gaeta.