François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand was a French writer, politician, diplomat and historian who influenced French literature of the 19th century. Descended from an old aristocratic family from Brittany, Chateaubriand was a royalist by political disposition. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1822 to 1824 and as the French ambassador to Sweden, Prussia, the United Kingdom, and the Papal States.