Of knightly extraction, it has proofs of its nobility going back as far as 1265. The title of marquis of Beauvau was granted to the head of the family by Louis XIV in 1664. The family also had rights to the prestigious title of "cousin du Roi", reserved for a few families with an alliance with the royal house. Marc de Beauvau, Prince of Craon (1679–1754) was entitled prince of the Holy Roman Empire in 1722, and it was under this title that the family was admitted to the "honneurs de la Cour" in 1775.