Anne-Sophie de Grantaine is the mother of Tamaki Suoh. She lives in France and gives birth to Tamaki with Yuzuru Suoh (Anne-Sophie's paramour and eventual husband).
Story
Anne-Sophie meets Yuzuru in Paris while he is there on a business trip. The two fall in love and she becomes his mistress. When Tamaki is born, he is named René and Tamaki. Both mother and child are forbidden by Shizue Suoh to return to Japan with Yuzuru. They remain in France until Tamaki is fourteen, with Anne-Sophie's health steadily declining.
When the de Grantaine family business goes into debt and is near bankruptcy, Shizue offers a deal to Anne-Sophie. In exchange for financial security and medical care until the end of her days, she is to relinquish all control and visitation of Tamaki to herself. Shizue does this because she is concerned for the Suoh legacy, Yuzuru having no other children to whom he can pass on the family and business legacies. Anne-Sophie tearfully accepts this as being in her son's best interest. It is said that she goes into seclusion following Tamaki's departure. Though her location is supposedly unknown, Yuzuru does know. During the 2nd-year school excursion to France, Kyoya Ootori locates her and discovers that she is living in decent health, thinking of her son every day. In Chapter 77 of the manga, it is revealed that Anne-Sophie suffers from Systemic lupus erythematosus.
Anne-Sophie's face up close in the manga
In Volume 18 of the manga, Umehito Nekozawa helps Tamaki reunite with his mother as she boards a plane. Anne-Sophie and Tamaki see one another for five minutes, just before Anne-Sophie returns to France following a visit to Japan for medical treatment at an Ootori hospital. Tamaki says that even five minutes is a good thing since it now means that he can visit his mother whenever he likes, and his father and Anne-Sophie are reunited. In one of the omake, Tamaki goes to Ryouji "Ranka" Fujioka to ask for Haruhi's hand in marriage. It's revealed that Anne-Sophie and Yuzuru have developed cordial relations with Haruhi's father. In the anime, Anne-Sophie is depicted as a housekeeper in the Tonnerre household where she develops an inter-generational friendship with the wealthy family's daughter, the Lady Éclair Tonnerre. She regales Éclair with stories about her sweet and beautiful son, which sparks the heiress's curiosity and eventual trip to Japan to meet him. Anne-Sophie's knowledge of the Tonnerre-Suoh engagement is unlikely; her potential reaction suggested by Shima Maezono, Chief of Staff for Suoh second mansion, who tells Kyoya in Ep 26 - This is Our Ouran Fair! that if Tamaki's mother is as wonderful as Tamaki says she is, she would not approve of Tamaki's leaving Ouran Academy, no matter the reason.
Relationships
Tamaki Suoh
Tamaki is the only child of Anne-Sophie de Grantaine and Yuzuru Suoh. When Tamaki is born out of wedlock to the couple, Shizue Suoh forbids both Anne-Sophie and Tamaki to accompany Yuzuru back to Japan. Tamaki is thus raised by his mother in France until he is fourteen. At that point, he is remanded to the custody of his grandmother in Japan as part of an agreement struck between his mother and the Suoh matriarch. Instead of becoming bitter about his lot in life, Tamaki never complains. Instead, he goes out of his way to ensure that people around him are happy so that his mother will not have made her sacrifice in vain. Tamaki's musicianship has developed, in part, because his mother enjoyed hearing him play the piano. Tamaki resembles his mother in appearance and it may be speculated that his obsession with making women happy is a projection of his desire to make his mother happy.
Yuzuru Suoh
Yuzuru Suoh is Anne-Sophie's lover and eventual husband. Yuzuru and Anne-Sophie meet while Yuzuru is on a business trip in Paris. The two fall in love and have a son together - Tamaki. Shizue Suoh, Yuzuru's mother, refuses mother and child to accompany Yuzuru back to Japan as he is still a married man at the time. In the manga, it is shown that Yuzuru visits Anne-Sophie and Tamaki in France from time to time and that he is a loving father to Tamaki. It is revealed in Volume 09 of the manga that Yuzuru knows where Anne-Sophie is located, but keeps this information to himself in the hopes that Shizue and Tamaki might develop a decent relationship as he is being prepared to inherit the Suoh empire.
In collaboration with the Ootori Medical Group, a medical treatment for Anne-Sophie's illness is developed and Yuzuru brings her to Japan. During that visit, Yuzuru, Anne-Sophie and Tamaki are briefly reunited. Yuzuru's master plan is to restore the de Grantaine business, force his mother into retirement, take over as President of Suoh Enterprises and make Tamaki his legitimate heir by marrying his one true love, Anne-Sophie.
Kyoya Ootori
Knowing how desperately Tamaki misses his mother, Kyoya searches for Anne-Sophie during the 2nd-year school excursion to France. At one point, his dedicated efforts leave him exhausted and he falls asleep outdoors, which is how Anne-Sophie first finds him. She allows him to stay in a guest room in her home and offers him food, after which the two have a conversation and Kyoya thanks Anne-Sophie for tending to him. He learns that Anne-Sophie is still in communication with Yuzuru and wonders what Yuzuru is planning. When Kyoya leaves, he remarks that Anne-Sophie looks a lot like his "best friend," referring to Tamaki. Anne-Sophie states that Tamaki has a "good friend" and upon reviewing a photo of Tamaki with the Host Club, she realizes that Tamaki is loved by many.
Éclair Tonnerre
Éclair is an anime-only character who appears in Ep 25 - The Host Club Declares Dissolution! and Ep 26 - This is Our Ouran Fair! She is daughter to the extremely wealthy and influential Tonnerre family which runs the Tonnerre Group. In one version of the story, Anne-Sophie works as a housekeeper in the Tonnerre household and it is there that Éclair first hears about Tamaki. It appears that Éclair and Anne-Sophie maintain a cordial relationship since Éclair listens to Anne-Sophie whenever she tells stories about Tamaki, said stories being one of the reasons Éclair journeys to Japan.
Gallery
- Main article: Anne-Sophie de Grantaine/Image Gallery