Louis de Duras, Earl of Feversham

In the north transept of Westminster Abbey are the graves of Louis de Duras, 2nd Earl of Feversham, his niece Charlotte de Bourbon and his nephew Armand de Bourbon. The small stone is in front of the monument of William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle but is now quite worn. All three were buried in the Abbey on 21st March 1740 having been moved from the French church in the Savoy area of London. The English section of the inscription reads:

Underneath are buried the remains of Louis De Duras Earl of Feversham and Armand de Bourbon and of his sister Charlotte de Bourbon transferred here from the French Chapel in the Savoy in March 1740. On their coffins are the following inscriptions...

It then gives the French inscriptions saying that Armand was born in the Chateau de la Cate in Languedoc on 12th July 1656 and died in England on 12th February 1732. Charlotte died unmarried in England on 15th October 1732 aged 73 years.

The Earl was a son of Guy de Durfort, Marquis de Duras and his wife Elisabeth (de la Tour). He was a brother of the Duc de Duras and de Lorge in France and nephew of Marshal Turenne. He was born in 1641 and naturalized British in 1665. In France his title was Marquis de Blanquefort. He held the posts of keeper of the Privy Purse to the Duke of York and was colonel of his troop of horse guards and was also ambassador at Paris, Gentleman of the bedchamber to Charles II and James II and Knight of the Garter. In 1675 he married Mary daughter of George Sondes, 1st Earl of Feversham. The following year he succeeded his father in law as Earl of Feversham. He died of gout of the stomach on 19th April 1709 and had requested burial in the Abbey but then changed his mind due to money problems.

Armand, Marquis de Miremont, was a son of Louis de Bourbon, 2nd Marquis of Malauze by his wife Henriette de Durfort, sister of the Earl of Feversham. He became a Lt. General in 1704. In her will Charlotte directed that she, her brother and uncle should be removed to the Abbey, she evidently foreseeing a time when the French chapel would cease to exist.