Count René Aldebert Pineton de Chambrun (French pronunciation:[ʁənealdəbɛʁpintɔ̃dəʃɑ̃bʁœ̃]; 23 August 1906 – 19 May 2002) was a French-American aristocrat, lawyer, businessman and author. He practised law at theCourt of Appeals of Paris and theNew York State Bar Association. He was the author of several books about World War II and his father-in-law, Vichy France Prime MinisterPierre Laval, to whom he served as legal counsel. He defendedCoco Chanel in her lawsuit againstPierre Wertheimer over her marketing rights toChanel No. 5. He was the chairman ofBaccarat, thecrystal manufacturer, from 1960 to 1992.

Count René de Chambrun
Born	Count René Aldebert Pineton de Chambrun (1906-08-23)23 August 1906 Paris,France
Died	19 May 2002(2002-05-19) (aged 95) Paris, France
Resting place	Montparnasse Cemetery
Nationality	France United States
Alma mater	Sciences Po University of Paris
Occupation(s)	Lawyer, businessman
Spouse	Josée Laval ​ ​ (m. 1935; died 1992)​
Parent(s)	Aldebert de Chambrun Clara Eleanor Longworth
Relatives	Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette(great-great-grandfather) Nicholas Longworth(maternal great-great-grandfather) Nicholas Longworth II(maternal grandfather) Nicholas Longworth(maternal uncle) Adolphe de Chambrun(paternal grandfather) Charles de Chambrun(paternal uncle) Pierre de Chambrun(paternal uncle) Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza(paternal uncle) Pierre Laval(father-in-law)

Count René de Chambrun was born on 23 August 1906 in Paris, France.^[1] His father,Aldebert de Chambrun, was a general in theFrench Army, and his mother wasClara Eleanor Longworth, sister ofNicholas Longworth, who marriedAlice Roosevelt, the daughter of the US PresidentTheodore Roosevelt.^[2] On his paternal side, he was a member of the aristocraticPineton de Chambrun family. Moreover,Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza was one of his paternal uncles.^[3] Chambrun's godfathers werePhilippe Pétain and PresidentWilliam Howard Taft .^[4]

Chambrun was a great-great-grandson ofLafayette.^[5][6] As a result, he was both a French and US. citizen.^[6] His US citizenship was questioned by members of theUS House of Representatives in 1942 for his support of his father-in-law,Pierre Laval.^[7]

Chambrun graduated fromSciences Po.^[1] He received aPhD in Law from theUniversity of Paris.^[1]

Chambrun was a lawyer at theCourt of Appeals of Paris and theNew York State Bar Association.^[5] By 1935, he helped establish a Franco-American cultural center in New York City to promote bilateral relations. The center was aimed at students and businessmen.^[8]

When theSecond World War broke out, Chambrun served as a captain, but with the collapse of France looming by mid-May 1940, French Prime MinisterPaul Reynaud sentChambrun as a special emissary to Washington to stiffen President Roosevelt's resolve to help the Allies. Between his first meeting with Roosevelt on 16 June and his last on 1 August, Reynaud's government had fallen. Later that year, Chambrun published the bookI Saw France Fall, which helped to alert American opinion about the fate of his country.

After theLiberation of France and the consequent fall of Laval'scollaborationist government, Chambrun was a defender of Laval:

Father-in-law wants a big trial which will illuminate everything, if he is given time to prepare his defence, if he is allowed to speak, to call witnesses and to obtain from abroad the information and documents which he needs, he will confound his accusers.^[9]

The Chambruns threw themselves into the task of assisting Laval in his defense before theHigh Court of Justice. After Laval's sentence and execution in October 1945, Chambrun was put on police watch in Paris on the suspicion that he may have helped the Nazis during the war.^[10] In 1942, Chambrun had been named on a list of French collaborators with Germany to be killed during the war or tried after it.^[11] By 1947, Chambrun officially applied for a US passport.^[12][13]

Meanwhile, Chambrun and his wife devoted their energies over the following decades to the cause of his rehabilitation in the eyes of history.^[14] For example, he wrote a letter to PresidentDwight Eisenhower in which he objected to his characterisation of Laval as "Hitler's most evil puppet" in his 1948 memoir entitledCrusade in Europe.^[15][16] Chambrun based his argument on another book, authored by Spanish Foreign MinisterRamón Serrano Suñer, in which the latter quoted Hitler describing Laval as "no better than De Gaulle."^[15] By 1949, Eisenhower agreed to remove the passage from subsequent reprints.^[15][16] A decade later, in 1959, his wife wrote the foreword ofTout ce qu'on vous a cache, a book based on "German secret files" authored byJacques Baraduc, Laval's lawyer.^[17] The book attempted to show that Laval "refused repeatedly to yield to German demands for a reduction in the number of United States agents in French North Africa and a limitation on their activity."^[17]

In 1969, Chambrun made an appearance inMarcel Ophüls's documentary oncollaboration between theVichy government andNazi Germany duringWorld War II,The Sorrow and the Pity (Le chagrin et la pitié). Chambrun wrote three books on the subject between 1983 and 1990. The Chambruns set up a foundation, theJosée and René de Chambrun Foundation, which collected documents on Laval for publication by theHoover Institution. After Laval's death, the Chambruns brought flowers to his grave every 15 October to commemorate the day that he was executed.^[18]

After World War II, Chambrun was hired by KingPeter II of Yugoslavia when the latter filed for divorce in 1953;^[19] the couple reconciled two years later. He represented the fashion designerCoco Chanel when she sued manufacturerPierre Wertheimer to regain the marketing rights to her perfume,Chanel No. 5.^[20] Wertheimer settled the case, and Chanel became a millionaire as a result.^[20] In 1970 Chambrun defended Greek shipping magnateStavros Niarchos over false allegations that he killed his ex-wife,Eugenia Livanos.^[21] Additionally, Chambrun was hired bySomerset Maugham's daughter to prove that she was indeed his daughter.^[22]

Chambrun served as the chairman ofBaccarat, thecrystal manufacturer, from 1960 to 1992.^[1][23][18]

Chambrun marriedJosée Laval (1911–1992), the only daughter ofPierre Laval in 1935.^[6][24] Their wedding was held at the town hall of the7th arrondissement of Paris, followed by theSainte-Clotilde the next day.^[25] They resided 6 bis,Place du Palais-Bourbon in the 7th arrondissement.^[26][27] In 1935, he bought theChâteau de la Grange-Bléneau, acastle in thecommune ofCourpalay in theSeine-et-Marnedépartement of France, from his cousin,Louis de Lasteyrie, a descendant of La Fayette, with a life tenancy.^[28]

UponLouis de Lasteyrie's death in 1955, Chambrun discovered the large cache of documents in the attic of the castle^[29] and founded a private museum about Lafayette.^[30] News of his discovery brought many historians to his door, but Chambrun denied access, except toAndré Maurois whom he authorized to write a biography of Adrienne de Lafayette.^[28][29][31] Chambrun produced a book by using the documents that he had discovered; they covered the period of 1792–1797, when Lafayette was in an Austrian prison. He organized and described the family archives, a collection dating from 1457 to 1990. The papers weremicrofilmed atLa Grange in 1995 and 1996, for theLibrary of Congress.^[32] It took two years and several microfilm teams from the Library of Congress to film the 50,000 pages.^[33] There are now two major "Lafayette collections" in the world: one is at the Fondation de Chambrun; the other, originally assembled by Elie Fabius, atCornell University Library. Chambrun purchased a sword used in battle by Lafayette in 1976,^[34] outbidding theSmithsonian Institution.^[35]

Chambrun served as the honorary president of theSons of the American Revolution in France. He became aChevalier (knight) of theLégion d'honneur.

Chambrun died on 19 May 2002 in Paris, France.^[1] His funeral, held atSainte-Clotilde, was attended byDiana Mitford, the widow of British fascist leaderOswald Mosley.^[3] He was buried at theMontparnasse Cemetery.^[24]

• Chambrun, René de (1932).Les Emprunts sur titres et le marché de l'argent à New-York. Paris: Rousseau et Cie.OCLC 459185128.
• Chambrun, René de (1940).I saw France fall. Will she rise again?. New York: W. Morrow & Co.OCLC 395042.
• Chambrun, René de (1964).Baccarat's first two hundred years of history, 1764-1964. Paris: Corbeil-Essonnes.OCLC 35184101.
• Chambrun, Adolphe de; Corcelle, Marie Hélène Marthe de (1976). Chambrun, René de (ed.).Un Français chez les Lincoln : lettres inédites adressées pendant la guerre de Sécession. Paris: Librairie académique Perrin.ISBN 9782262000387.OCLC 3868356.
• Chambrun, René de (1977).Les prisons des La Fayette : dix ans de courage et d'amour. Paris: Perrin.ISBN 9782262000738.OCLC 3670435.
• Chambrun, René de (1980).Sorti du rang. Paris: Jullian.ISBN 9782863100301.OCLC 7552462.
• Chambrun, René de (1984).Pierre Laval : traitor or patriot?. New York: Scribner.ISBN 9780684180953.OCLC 11030312.
• Chambrun, René de (1986).France during the German occupation, 1940-1944 : summaries and important selections from statements on the government of Maréchal Pétain and Pierre Laval. A bibliographical supplement. Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press.ISBN 9780817983727.OCLC 13821262.
• Chambrun, René de (1988).Les 2,600,000 otages français d'Hitler, 1940 : la France, puissance protectrice de ses prisonniers. Paris: Editions France-Empire.ISBN 9782704805983.OCLC 21762580.
• Chambrun, René de (1990).Mes combats pour Pierre Laval. Paris: Perrin.ISBN 9782262007614.OCLC 23059292.
• Chambrun, René de (1993).Mission and betrayal, 1940-1945 : working with Franklin Roosevelt to help save Britain and Europe. Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press.ISBN 9780817992217.OCLC 26722920.