UK Edition
Aristocrat takes legal action as former erotic film star promotes champagne brand founded by his forefathers
The use of a former erotic film star turned cabaret singer to promote a pink champagne has infuriated the aristocratic family whose forefathers founded the celebrated ‘Charles de Cazanove’ brand.
Count Loïc Chiroussot de Bigault de Cazanove has started legal proceedings in an attempt to force the current owners of the brand to remove his family’s name from its “Champagne by Clara Morgane” vintage. Ms Morgane is shown in a provocative pose in advertisements for a limited edition pink champagne bearing the former glamour model’s name alongside that of the count’s family. Each bottle, sheathed in lace, costs £45, but the count argues that the brand is being cheapened.
“My ancestors are in tears,” he told Europe 1 radio. “I am from a great family of French nobles that distinguished itself in the Resistance ... Associating this brand with a person who has made pornographic films is a bit of an outrage. ”
The count insisted that he had “nothing against this lady” but wanted to defend his “heritage and patrimonial rights”.
He added: “We were granted a title by Saint-Louis [King Louis IX]. My ancestors would be turning in their graves. General de Gaulle was a family friend and he would be turning in his grave too.”
The count's great-great-grandfather, Charles de Bigault de Cazanove, founded the champagne house in 1811, but the family sold it in the 1980s. The brand name remained unchanged. Representatives of the current owners were not immediately available to comment.
The count’s lawyer, Maître Ludot, told L’Union, a local newspaper in the Champagne region, that the objection to the use of Ms Morgane’s name in conjunction with that of the de Cazanove family was based on intellectual property law.
“There is a manifestly illicit issue with regard to the use of (the count’s) surname and his family history in a commercial venture based on the reputation of pornographic creations and essentially based on sex. The family name constitutes a inalienable right of the individual.”
The case is due to come before a court in Lille on January 9.