He was the great-grandsonofNicolas Luckner, Marshalof Franceandcommander-in-chiefof the French Army of the Rhine, who had beenelevatedto countin the 18thcentury by the KingofDenmark.
"My mother wanted to leave, " he later recalled, "but my father paradoxically still had faith in Marshal Petain" -- then the ruler of Vichy France, the part unoccupied by Nazi forces.