 In 2003, the French journalist Dominique Paoli claimed to have found evidence that Weygand's father was indeed van der Smissen, but the mother was Mélanie Zichy-Metternich, lady-in-waiting to Carlota (and daughter of Prince Metternich, Austrian Chancellor).Paoli further claimed that Weygand had been born in mid-1865, not January 1867 as is generally claimed.Regardless, throughout his life Weygand maintained he did not know his true parentage.