Page "Ferdinand de Lesseps" Paragraph 52

From the middle of the 18th century the ancestors of de Lesseps followed diplomatic careers, and he himself occupied several diplomatic posts from 1825 to 1849.

His uncle was ennobled by King Louis XVI, and his father was made a count by Napoleon I.

His father, Mathieu de Lesseps ( Hamburg, 4 May 1774 – Tunis, 28 December 1832 ), was in the consular service ; his mother, Catherine de Grévigné ( Málaga, 11 June 1774 – Paris, 27 January 1853, was Spanish on her mother's side, and aunt of the countess of Montijo, mother of the empress Eugénie.

She was a daughter of Henri Grevigné ( baptised Notre-Dame-aux-Fonts, Liège, 2 June 1744 ) and wife ( m. Málaga, 1766 ) Francisca Antonia Gallegos ( 1751 – 1853 ).