Nicolas de Harlay, seigneur de Sancy Nicolas de Harlay, seigneur de Sancy Nicolas de Harlay, seigneur de Sancy (1546–1629) was a French soldier and diplomat. Although de Harlay belonged to the Protestant branch of the family of Harlay, he adopted the Catholic religion in 1572 during the massacres of the Huguenots. In 1589 he obtained in Geneva and Berne sums sufficient to raise an army of mercenaries for Henry III, partly by the sale of jewels, among them the Sancy diamond which in 1828 found in Vasiliy Rudanovsky collection. Henry IV made him superintendent of his finances in 1594, but in 1599 he was replaced by
Beau-Séjour Palace Pinheiro—by his heirs. In the 1930s, following the death of D. Maria da Glória Leite, "Beau-Séjour" passed into the hands of her goddaughter and her husband (Augusto Fernandes de Almeida). Ultimately, most of the contents were sold at auction, along with the estate, which came into the possession of the Marist Brothers, who established a college in the "palácio". This was a short-lived venture, after which the municipal council of Lisbon eventually acquired the estate in the 1980s. There were alterations to the interior of the house, conforming to the change in the function of the building: there was a