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Anne de Rochechouart de Montemart may not jump to your mind but her great grandmother does. While you would think the great-granddaughter of Veuve Clicquot would sit back sipping her family champagne and counting all her money, that wasn’t the life that Anne wanted. 

The apple of her great grandmother's eye, they would remain close her entire life and would also inherit the bulk of her estate. Anne used her money and her prestige to engage in politics and charities bringing to light causes that were mostly ignored. 

Anything she wanted to do she did. In 1898 when Emile Delahayes built a new car she had to have one. She was the first woman in France to have a driver's license and also the first to get a speeding ticket. She was going 9 mph in a 7.5 mph zone, the horror. When women weren’t allowed in the auto club, she created her own. 

During World War I, she donated funds and also properties for the French to create makeshift hospitals. Anne didn’t stop there. At 70 years old she obtained her nurse's license so she could help the doctors. Anne’s philanthropy would make her great grandmother proud, just one more reason to enjoy that glass of Veuve Clicquot.

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