Armand Louis de Gontaut was born in Paris on April 13, 1747, into one of France’s oldest aristocratic families. He was the son of Charles Antoine Armand de Gontaut, Duke of Biron, and Antoinette Eustachie Crozat du Châtel. Through his mother he was connected to the immensely wealthy Crozat financial family, while his paternal lineage gave him rank, court access, and military expectations. Known in youth by the title Duke of Lauzun, he grew up amid the privileges and obligations of the French nobility. His parents’ marriage was unhappy, and much of Armand’s upbringing occurred within the broader aristocratic household rather than a close domestic family. He received the education of a young nobleman destined for court and command: languages, manners, riding, fencing, military subjects, and the social arts required at Versailles. The surviving memoir tradition depicts him as charming, restless, and highly conscious of reputation. Because his own later memoirs were shaped by self-presentation, their colorful anecdotes must be treated cautiously. Military service began early. Like many nobles, Lauzun entered a prestigious regiment while still young and benefited from family influence in obtaining advancement. He served during the closing phase of the Seven Years’ War, gaining firsthand experience of European campaigning before reaching full adulthood. Peace after 1763 left ambitious officers searching for distinction, and Lauzun divided his time among military duties, travel, court society, and efforts to secure commands suited to his rank. In 1766 he married Amélie de Boufflers, another member of the high nobility. The marriage strengthened family alliances but was not a conventionally intimate partnership. By the 1770s Lauzun had become known at court as much for style and romantic intrigue as for soldiering, yet he also pursued serious military advancement and studied new forms of mobile warfare. Before American independence offered him an international stage, his character had been formed by aristocratic wealth, an emotionally distant family setting, elite martial education, early army service, and the competitive culture of Versailles.