On July 10, 1777, a marriage was recorded in the Bengal Parish Registers between Francis Grand, a writer in the East India Company’s service, and Varle of Chandernagore in present-day West Bengal. Sometime afterwards, the register was annotated in a different hand “This is the famous Madame Grand, afterwards wife of Talleyrand”.
Annotations of this sort in official registers are highly unusual and someone thought Madame Grand famous (or infamous) enough to add the note. So, what was the story of Madame Grand?
Nöel Catherine Werlée (sometimes Worlée, Verlée or Varle) was born in Tranquebar in present-day Tamil Nadu – sources put her date of birth as November 21, 1761 or 1762. She was the daughter of the Captain of the Port, Peter John Werlée, and had both Danish and French heritage.
She met George Francis Grand in…