Bonne Marie Félicité de Sérent
Bonne Marie Félicité de Sérent (18 February 1739 – 3 July 1823) was a French noblewoman and courtier. She came from the old Montmorency-Luxembourg family and married Marquis Armand-Louis de Sérent in 1754; they had four children.
From 1776 to 1792 she served Elisabeth of France as a lady-in-waiting. When the French Revolution began, she stayed with Elisabeth as the royal family moved from Versailles to Paris, and she continued to serve Elisabeth in the Tuileries. After Elisabeth was imprisoned in 1792, Sérent kept in touch from outside, helped by the courtier Clery and the cook Turgot.
In 1795, when Marie Thérèse was released, Sérent was not allowed to accompany her to Austria. In 1799 she attended Marie Thérèse’s wedding in Mitau (Courland) and was named to Marie Thérèse’s household, a position she held until her death. Her daughter also joined the household, and they accompanied Marie Thérèse to England in 1808.
After the Bourbon restoration in 1814, Sérent returned to France and again served as head lady-in-waiting to Marie Thérèse, effectively the first lady of the court, and she organized debutante presentations. She died in Paris in 1823. Her daughter Anne-Félicité Simone de Sérent later became head lady-in-waiting as well, after serving as her mother’s deputy.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 06:34 (CET).