Chevalier d'Éon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Chevalier d'Éon
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Chevalier d'Éon wearing the chivalric Order of Saint Louis, the highest military honour of the Kingdom of France. Painting by Thomas Stewart (1792), at the National Portrait Gallery, London
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| Born | 5 October 1728 Tonnerre, Yonne, France
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| Died | 21 May 1810 (aged 81) London, United Kingdom
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| Resting place | St Pancras Old Church |
Charles d'Éon de Beaumont or Charlotte d'Éon de Beaumont (5 October 1728 – 21 May 1810), usually known as the Chevalier d'Éon or the Chevalière d'Éon, 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 and was officially recognized as a woman by King Louis XVI.
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Early life, family and education
D'Éon was born at the Hôtel d'Uzès in Tonnerre, Burgundy, into a poor French 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. 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 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 and graduating in civil law and canon law from the Collège Mazarin in 1749 at the age of 21.
Early career
D'Éon began literary work as a contributor to Élie Catherine Fréron's Année littéraire, and attracted notice as a political writer through two works on financial and administrative questions, 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 were contrary to 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. 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 French invasion of Britain — 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. 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 so the French government became cautious in its dealings with d'Éon, even when d'Éon sued Guerchy for attempted murder. D'Éon did not offer any defence when Guerchy sued for libel, and 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 in safety. 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 gender. 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.
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. 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. 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.
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.
Legacy
Some of d'Éon's papers are at the Brotherton Library in Leeds, England.
Some modern scholars have interpreted d'Éon as transgender. Havelock Ellis coined the term eonism to describe similar cases of transgender behavior; it is rarely used now. The Beaumont Society, a long-standing organisation for transgender people, is named after d'Éon.
In 2012, a 1792 painting (shown above) by Thomas Stewart was identified as a portrait of d'Éon, and was purchased by the National Portrait Gallery, London.
The Burdett-Coutts Memorial at St Pancras Gardens in London commemorates d'Éon as well as other people; in 2016 Historic England upgraded it to a Grade II* listed structure.
Cultural depictions
The Chevalier d'Éon has appeared as a character in numerous fictional works and music.
- In the popular pop song "Sans contrefaçon" by French artist Mylène Farmer, the chevalier d'Éon is alluded to by the singer in lyrics describing the singer putting a handkerchief in her trousers to resemble a man
- The Chevalière d'Eon, by Charles Dupeuty and the Baron de Maldigny (1837), Théâtre du Vaudeville
- The Chevalier d'Eon, a comedy in three acts by Dumanoir and Jean-François Bayard (1837), Théâtre des Variétés
- Le chevalier d'Eon, opéra-comique in four acts by Rodolphe Berger, libretto by Armand Silvestre and Henri Cain (1908), Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin; Mlle. Anne Dancrey created the title role
- Spy of Madame Pompadour (1928), film.
- Le secret du Chevalier d'Éon (1959), a film loosely based on the life of the Chevalier that portrays d'Éon as a woman masquerading as a man.
- By Plume and Sword (Пером и шпагой), a novel by the Soviet writer Valentin Pikul, written in 1963 and first published in 1972, based on d'Éon's career in Russia.
- Beaumarchais (1996), a film depicting episodes in the life of Pierre de Beaumarchais, including negotiations with d'Éon in 1774 over the return of correspondence regarding the Secret du Roi.
- Le Chevalier D'Eon (2006), an anime series loosely based on the Chevalier d'Éon.
- The Sword of the Chevalier, a 2017 episode of the Doctor Who audio series, The Tenth Doctor Adventures, which sees the Chevalier meeting the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) and Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) and assisting them in thwarting alien slavers who intend to destroy Earth to drive up the market price of their captives.
- The Chevalier d'Éon appears as an unplayable character that gives out side-quests in the game Assassin's Creed: Unity.
- History of a French Louse; or The Spy of a New Species, in France and England in British it-Narratives 1750-1830 (2012), d'Éon is portrayed as a nameless character which a louse inhabits for a period of time.
- The Chevalier d'Éon: The 18th Century Transgender Spy (2022), a biographical short documentary directed by Jono Namara for BBC Worldwide.
- Innocent (2013–2015), a Manga series by Shin'ichi Sakamoto briefly depicting d'Éon as a side character.
- Fate/Grand Order, which depicts d'Éon as a character in a free-to-play video game, voiced by Chiwa Saitō.
- Franklin (2024), which depicts d'Éon as a character who meets Benjamin Franklin in Paris
