Comtesse de la Motte

Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy, "Comtesse de la Motte" (22 July 1756 – 23 August 1791) (aged 35) was a notorious French adventuress and thief; she was married to Nicholas de la Motte whose family's claim to nobility is dubious. She herself was an impoverished descendant of the Valois royal family through an illegitimate son of King Henry II. She is known for her prominent role in the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, one of many scandals that led to the French Revolution and helped to destroy the monarchy of France.

Jeanne de Valois was born on 22 July 1756 in Fontette (northeastern France near Bar-sur-Aube) to a very poor family. Her father, Jacques de Valois de Saint-Rémy (1717–1762), was a direct male-line descendant of Henry de Saint-Rémy (1557–1621), an illegitimate son of King Henry II and Nicole de Savigny; despite having royal Valois blood, Jacques was known as a drunkard and to live from expedients. Jeanne's mother was Marie Jossel, a debauched servant girl.

Jeanne was the third of six children. Three of Jacques de Valois de Saint-Rémy and Marie Jossel's six children died in infancy: Joseph (9 March 1753 – 9 December 1753), Marie Marguerite Anne (17 February 1759 – 23 May 1767) and Jean (5 March 1760 – 9 March 1760). The three surviving de Valois de Saint-Rémy children, Jacques (25 July 1751 – 1785), Jeanne, and Marie-Anne (2 October 1757 – 1786) were neglected, went barefoot, tended the cows, and often found it necessary to beg for food. According to Count Beugnot as written in his Mémoires, they were rescued by his father and the abbot of Langres. According to another source, the family moved to Boulogne near Paris where a priest and one of his rich parishioners, Madame de Boulainvilliers, took care of them.

In any case, their Valois ancestry was ascertained by a genealogist at Versailles, and as a result of legal dispositions set up to help children from poor nobility, Jacques was granted a yearly stipend of 1000 pounds and a post in a military academy; Jeanne and Marie-Anne went to a boarding school in Passy and were given a stipend of 900 pounds. They were supposed to become nuns in the Longchamps monastery, but instead chose to go back to Bar-sur-Aube where they lived with the Surmont family. On 6 June 1780, Jeanne married Marc-Antoine-Nicolas de la Motte, Mr Surmont's nephew and an officer of the gendarmes. At the time of her wedding, Jeanne was heavily pregnant; only one month later (7 July) her newborn twins were baptized as Jean-Baptiste and Nicolas-Marc de la Motte. Both children lived only a few days.

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