he world-famed author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was born at Lyon in 1900 and lost at sea on a wartime reconnaissance flight between Grenoble and Corsica in 1944. By then, he had logged nearly 7,000 hours as a pilot. His experience in pioneering the airmail service Aéropostale, as well as his accident in the desert one December night in 1935, contributed directly to his literary output: from Southern Mailto Night Flight, fromWind, Sand and Starsto Flight to Arras, as well asThe Wisdom of the Sands and the unforgettable The Little Prince.
He and the heirs of the Château de Tiregand shared the same forebears.
The original line divided into two branches in the 15th century: Antoine descended from the branch on the right, the estate’s owners from the branch on the left.
