Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau
| The Count of Mirabeau | |
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Portrait of Mirabeau by Joseph Boze (1789)
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Member of the Constituent Assembly from Provence |
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In office 9 July 1789 – 2 April 1791 |
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| Constituency | Aix-en-Provence |
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Member of the Estates-General for the Third Estate |
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In office 5 May 1789 – 9 July 1789 |
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| Constituency | Provence |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
9 March 1749 Le Bignon, Orléanais, France |
| Died | 2 April 1791 (aged 42) Paris, Seine, France |
| Political party |
Jacobin (1789–1790) Patriotic (1790–1791) |
| Spouse(s) | Émilie de Covet, Marquess of Marignane (m. 1772; div. 1782) |
| Children | Victor (d. 1778) |
| Alma mater | Aix University |
| Profession | Soldier, writer, journalist |
| Religion | Deism (baptized Catholic) |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 France
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| Service/branch | Royal Army |
| Years of service | 1768–1769 |
| Rank | Private |
| Battles/wars | Conquest of Corsica |
Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Count of Mirabeau (9 March 1749 – 2 April 1791) was a leader of the early stages of the French Revolution. A noble, he was involved in numerous scandals before the start of the Revolution in 1789 that had left his reputation in ruins. Nonetheless, he rose to the top of the French political hierarchy in the years 1789-1791 and acquired the reputation of a voice of the people. A successful orator, he was the leader of the moderate position among revolutionaries by favoring a constitutional monarchy built on the model of Great Britain. When he died (of natural causes) he was a great national hero, even though support for his moderate position was slipping away. The later discovery that he was in the pay of King Louis XVI and the Austrian enemies of France beginning in 1790 caused his posthumous disgrace. Historians are deeply split on whether he was a great leader who almost saved the nation from the Terror, a venal demagogue lacking political or moral values, or a traitor in the pay of the enemy.
The family of Riqueti, with distant origins in Italy, became wealthy through merchant trading in Marseilles. In 1570, Jean Riqueti bought the château and seigniory of Mirabeau, which had belonged to the great Provençal family of Barras. In 1685, Honoré Riqueti obtained the title "marquis de Mirabeau".
His son, Jean Antoine, grandfather of Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, served with distinction through all the later campaigns of the reign of Louis XIV. At the Battle of Cassano (1705), he suffered a neck wound so severe that he had to wear a silver stock ever after. Because he tended to be blunt and tactless, he never rose above the rank of colonel. On retiring from the service, he married Françoise de Castellane with whom he had three sons: Victor (marquis de Mirabeau), Jean Antoine (bailli de Mirabeau) and Louis Alexandre (comte de Mirabeau). Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau, was the son of Victor.
Honoré Mirabeau was born at Le Bignon, near Nemours, the eldest surviving son of the economist Victor de Riqueti, marquis de Mirabeau, and his wife Marie-Geneviève de Vassan. He was also the fifth child and second son of the couple. When he was three years old, a virulent attack of smallpox left his face disfigured. This, combined with Mirabeau's resemblance to his maternal ancestors and his fondness for his mother, contributed to his father's dislike of him. At the age of five, he was sent by his father to a boarding school by the name of "Abbé Choquard." Destined for the army, at age eighteen, he entered the military school in Paris in the regiment of Berri-Cavaleria at Saints. Of this school, which had Joseph-Louis Lagrange for its professor of mathematics, there is an amusing account in the life of Gilbert Elliot, who met Mirabeau there. On leaving school in 1767, he received a commission in a cavalry regiment that his grandfather had commanded years before.
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