Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Timothée
d'Éon de Beaumont or Charlotte-Geneviève-Louise-Augusta-Andréa-Timothéa d'Éon
de Beaumont (5 October 1728 – 21 May 1810), usually known as the Chevalier
d'Éon or the Chevalière d'Éon (chevalière is the female equivalent of
chevalier, meaning knight), was a French diplomat, spy, and soldier. D'Éon
fought in the Seven Years' War, and spied for France while in Russia and
England. D'Éon had androgynous physical characteristics and natural abilities
as a mimic and a spy. D'Éon appeared publicly as a man and pursued masculine
occupations for 49 years, although during that time, d'Éon successfully
infiltrated the court of Empress Elizabeth of Russia by presenting as a woman.
Starting in 1777, d'Éon lived as a woman. Doctors who examined d'Éon's body
after death discovered "male organs in every respect perfectly
formed", but also feminine characteristics.
D'Éon was
born at the Hôtel d'Uzès in Tonnerre, Burgundy, into a poor noble family.
D'Éon's father, Louis d'Éon de Beaumont, was an attorney and director of the
king's dominions, later mayor of Tonnerre and sub-delegate of the intendant of
the généralité of Paris.[3] D'Éon's mother, Françoise de Charanton, was the
daughter of a Commissioner General to the armies of the wars of Spain and
Italy. Most of what is known about d'Éon's early life comes from a partly
ghost-written autobiography, The Interests of the Chevalier d'Éon de
Beaumont[4][5] and Bram Stoker's essay on the Chevalier in his 1910 book Famous
Impostors.
D'Éon
excelled in school, moving from Tonnerre to Paris in 1743, graduating in civil
law and canon law from the Collège Mazarin in 1749 at age 21. D'Éon began
literary work as a contributor to Fréron's Année littéraire, and attracted notice
as a political writer by two works on financial and administrative questions,
which were published in 1753. D'Éon became secretary to Bertier de Sauvigny,
intendant of Paris, served as a secretary to the administrator of the fiscal
department, and was appointed a royal censor for history and literature by
Malesherbes in 1758.
Life as a
spy
In 1756,
d'Éon joined the secret network of spies called the Secret du Roi (King's
Secret) employed by King Louis XV without the knowledge of the government. It
sometimes promoted policies that contradicted official policies and treaties.
According to d'Éon's memoirs (although there is no documentary evidence to
support that account) the monarch sent d'Éon with the Chevalier Douglas,
Alexander Peter Mackenzie Douglas, Baron of Kildin, a Scottish Jacobite in
French service, on a secret mission to Russia in order to meet Empress
Elizabeth and conspire with the pro-French faction against the Habsburg
monarchy. At that time the English and French were at odds, and the English
were attempting to deny the French access to the Empress by allowing only women
and children to cross the border into Russia. D'Éon later claimed having to
pass convincingly as a woman or risk being executed by the English upon
discovery and therefore travelled disguised as the lady Lia de Beaumont, and
served as a maid of honour to the Empress. However, there is little or no
evidence to support this and it is now commonly accepted to be a story told to
demonstrate how identifying as female had been of benefit to France in the
past. Eventually, Chevalier Douglas became French ambassador to Russia, and
d'Éon was secretary to the embassy in Saint Petersburg from 1756 to 1760,
serving Douglas and his successor, the marquis de l'Hôpital.
D'Éon returned
to France in October 1760, and was granted a pension of 2,000 livres as reward
for service in Russia. In May 1761, d'Éon became a captain of dragoons under
the maréchal de Broglie and fought in the later stages of the Seven Years' War.
D'Éon served at the Battle of Villinghausen in July 1761, and was wounded at
Ultrop. After Empress Elizabeth died in January 1762, d'Éon was considered for
further service in Russia, but instead was appointed secretary to the duc de
Nivernais, awarded 1,000 livres, and sent to London to draft the peace treaty
that formally ended the Seven Years' War. The treaty was signed in Paris on 10
February 1763, and d'Éon was awarded a further 6,000 livres, and received the
Order of Saint-Louis on 30 March 1763, becoming the Chevalier d'Éon.[8] The
title chevalier, French for knight, is also sometimes used for French noblemen.
Back in
London, d'Éon became chargé d'affaires in April 1763, and then plenipotentiary
minister—essentially interim ambassador—when the duc de Nivernais returned to
Paris in July. D'Éon used this position also to spy for the king. D'Éon
collected information for a potential invasion—an unfortunate and clumsy
initiative of Louis XV, of which Louis's own ministers were unaware—assisting a
French agent, Louis François Carlet de la Rozière, who was surveying the
British coastal defences. D'Éon formed connections with English nobility by
sending them the produce of d'Éon's vineyard in France; d'Éon abundantly
enjoyed the splendour of this interim embassy.
Upon the
arrival of the new ambassador, the comte de Guerchy in October 1763, d'Éon was
demoted to the rank of secretary and humiliated by the count. D'Éon was trapped
between two French factions: Guerchy was a supporter of the duc de Choiseul,
duc de Praslin and Madame de Pompadour, in opposition to the comte de Broglie
and his brother the maréchal de Broglie. D'Éon complained, and eventually
decided to disobey orders to return to France. In a letter to the king, d'Éon
claimed that the new ambassador had tried to drug d'Éon at a dinner at the
ambassador's residence in Monmouth House in Soho Square. The British government
declined a French request to extradite d'Éon, and the 2,000 livres pension that
had been granted in 1760 was stopped in February 1764. In an effort to save
d'Éon's station in London, d'Éon published much of the secret diplomatic
correspondence about d'Éon's recall under the title Lettres, mémoires et
négociations particulières du chevalier d'Éon in March 1764, disavowing Guerchy
and calling him unfit for the job.This breach of diplomatic discretion was
scandalous to the point of being unheard of, but d'Éon had not yet published
everything (the King's secret invasion documents and those relative to the
Secret du Roi were kept back as "insurance"), and the French
government became very cautious in its dealings with d'Éon, even when d'Éon
sued Guerchy for attempted murder. With the invasion documents in hand, d'Éon
held the king in check. D'Éon did not offer any defence when Guerchy sued for
libel, and d'Éon was declared an outlaw and went into hiding. However, d'Éon
secured the sympathy of the British public: the mob jeered Guerchy in public, and
threw stones at his residence. D'Éon then wrote a book on public
administration, Les loisirs du Chevalier d'Éon, which was published in thirteen
volumes in Amsterdam in 1774.
Guerchy was
recalled to France, and in July 1766 Louis XV granted d'Éon a pension (possibly
a pay-off for d'Éon's silence) and a 12,000-livre annuity, but refused a demand
for over 100,000 livres to clear d'Éon's extensive debts. D'Éon continued to
work as a spy, but lived in political exile in London. D'Éon's possession of
the king's secret letters provided protection against further actions, but
d'Éon could not return to France.[10] D'Éon became a Freemason in 1768, and was
initiated at London's Immortality Lodge.
Life as a
woman
Despite the
fact that d'Éon habitually wore a dragoon's uniform, rumours circulated in
London that d'Éon was actually a woman. A betting pool was started on the
London Stock Exchange about d'Éon's true sex. D'Éon was invited to join, but
declined, saying that an examination would be dishonouring, whatever the
result. After a year without progress, the wager was abandoned. Following the
death of Louis XV in 1774, the secret du roi was abolished, and d'Éon tried to
negotiate a return from exile. The writer Pierre de Beaumarchais represented
the French government in the negotiations. The resulting twenty-page treaty
permitted d'Éon to return to France and retain the ministerial pension, but
required that d'Éon turn over the correspondence regarding the secret du roi.
Madame
Campan writes in her memoirs: "This eccentric being had long solicited
permission to return to France; but it was necessary to find a way of sparing
the family he had offended the insult they would see in his return; he was
therefore made to resume the costume of that sex to which in France everything
is pardoned. The desire to see his native land once more determined him to
submit to the condition, but he revenged himself by combining the long train of
his gown and the three deep ruffles on his sleeves with the attitude and
conversation of a grenadier, which made him very disagreeable company."
The
Chevalier d'Éon claimed to have been assigned female at birth, and demanded
recognition by the government as such. D'Éon claimed to have been raised as a
boy because Louis d'Éon de Beaumont could only inherit from his in-laws if he
had a son. King Louis XVI and his court complied with this demand, but required
in turn that d'Éon dress appropriately in women's clothing, although d'Éon was
allowed to continue to wear the insignia of the Order of Saint-Louis. When the
king's offer included funds for a new wardrobe of women's clothes, d'Éon agreed.
In 1777, after fourteen months of negotiation, d'Éon returned to France and as
punishment was banished to Tonnerre.
Fencing
match between Monsieur de Saint-George et Mademoiselle La chevalière d'Éon de
Beaumont at Carlton House on 9 April 1787. Engraving by Victor Marie Picot,
based on the original painting by Charles Jean Robineau.
When France
began to help the rebels during the American War of Independence, d'Éon asked
to join the French troops in America, but d'Éon's banishment prevented it.[10] In
1779, d'Éon published a book of memoirs: La Vie Militaire, politique, et privée
de Mademoiselle d'Éon. They were ghostwritten by a friend named La Fortelle and
are probably embellished.[8] D'Éon was allowed to return to England in 1785.
The pension
that Louis XV had granted was ended by the French Revolution, and d'Éon had to
sell personal possessions, including books, jewellery and plate. The family's
properties in Tonnerre were confiscated by the revolutionary government. In
1792, d'Éon sent a letter to the French National Assembly offering to lead a
division of female soldiers against the Habsburgs, but the offer was rebuffed.
D'Éon participated in fencing tournaments until seriously wounded in
Southampton in 1796. D'Éon's last years were spent with a widow, Mrs. Cole. In
1804, d'Éon was sent to a debtors' prison for five months, and signed a
contract for a biography to be written by Thomas William Plummer, which was
never published. D'Éon became paralyzed following a fall, and spent a final four
years bedridden, dying in poverty in London on 21 May 1810 at the age of 81.
The surgeon
who examined d'Éon's body attested in their post-mortem certificate that the
Chevalier had "male organs in every respect perfectly formed", while
at the same time displaying feminine characteristics. A couple of
characteristics described in the certificate were "unusual roundness in
the formation of limbs", as well as "breast remarkably full".
D'Éon's
body was buried in the churchyard of St Pancras Old Church, and d'Éon's
remaining possessions were sold by Christie's in 1813. D'Éon's grave is listed
on the Burdett-Coutts Memorial there as one of the important graves lost.
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