Honoré Armand de Villars
| Honoré Armand de Villars | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
4 October 1702 Paris, France |
| Died | 1 May 1770 (aged 67) Aix-en-Provence, France |
| Residence | Hôtel d'Esmivy de Moissac |
| Occupation | Aristocrat, soldier, politician |
| Spouse(s) | Amable-Gabrielle de Noailles |
| Children | Aimable-Angélique de Villars |
| Parent(s) |
Claude Louis Hector de Villars Jeanne Angélique Rocque de Varengeville |
| Relatives |
Pierre de Villars (paternal grandfather) Adrien Maurice de Noailles (father-in-law) |
Don Honoré Armand de Villars, 2e duc de Villars (4 October 1702, Paris – May 1770, Aix), Duke and Peer of France, Prince of Martigues, Grandee of Spain, Knight of the Golden Fleece, Viscount of Melun, Marquis of la Melle, Count of Rochemiley, was a French nobleman, soldier and politician.
He was the son of Claude Louis Hector de Villars and of Jeanne Angélique Rocque de Varengeville, and the grandson of Pierre de Villars. In 1721, he married Amable-Gabrielle de Noailles, daughter of Adrien Maurice de Noailles. They had only one child, Aimable-Angélique de Villars, on 18 March 1723. Maître de Camp of a cavalry regiment and Brigadier in the Armées du Roi, he served in Italy in 1733 under his father's command. He carried back to Louis XIV the news of the capture of Milan castle. He was a member of the Académie française, succeeding his father in seat 18 on 16 August 1734.
He received the nickname "friend of Man" as a famous homosexual. Bachaumont noted, in his Mémoires (5 May 1770) that "[the Duke of Villars] was taxed with a vice that he had made fashionable at court, and that had brought him very wide renown, as can be seen in la Pucelle". Voltaire, in the first editions of La Pucelle d'Orléans, mentioned him alongside the marquis de Thibouville, accused of the same vice, in the following verses:
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