August von Senarclens de Grancy

Who was August von Senarclens de Grancy?

August Ludwig Freiherr von Senarclens de Grancy was born Auguste Louis de Senarclens de Grancy at the Château d'Etoy in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland, the ancestral home of the de Loriol Family, the firstborn son of three sons and four daughters of Cesar August Freiherr von Senarclens de Grancy, and wife Élizabeth Claudine Marie-Rose de Loriol.

He became Grand Master of Stables of the Grand Duke of Hesse, Major General and Knight of Honor and Devotion in the Order of Malta. It is also alleged that he was the biological father of four of his employer's wife's children and, therefore, a possible ancestor of the current King of Spain and the current heir apparent to the throne of the United Kingdom. He would also possibly be a direct-line ancestor of the current pretenders the thrones of Yugoslavia, Romania and the German Empire.

Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse, bought the area of Heiligenberg near Jugenheim in 1820 for his Chamberlain, Senarclens de Grancy, to live, and after the acquisition Grand Duchess Wilhelmine no longer lived with her spouse, nor did they have any children since 1809. Senarclens's identity as the father of the later children of Wilhelmine of Baden was strongly suspected: correspondence detailing this involved many government ministers, ambassadors and sovereigns, including Tsar Nicholas I and Queen Victoria.