Grace Elliott
Grace Dalrymple, Lady Elliott (* around 1754 in Edinburgh , † 1823 in Ville-d'Avray ) was a Scottish courtesan who was an eyewitness to the French Revolution in Paris . She was the mistress of the future King George IV and the Duke of Orléans .
Life
Grace was the youngest daughter of Grisel Craw and the Edinburgh lawyer Hew Dalrymple, who separated when she was a child. She received her education in a French monastery. She was later introduced to society. Beautiful and intelligent, she embarked on the career of a courtesan.
In 1771 she married the doctor Sir John Elliott in London. In 1774 she fled to Edinburgh with Arthur Annesley, 8th Viscount Valentia (later 1st Earl of Mountnorris ). The marriage ended in divorce and she received a settlement of £ 12,000 . A short time later, her brother took her to a monastery in France. George Cholmondeley, 4th Earl of Cholmondeley (later 1st Marquess of Cholmondeley ), brought her back to London. There she became the mistress of some of the noblest and richest men in the kingdom. In 1782 she gave birth to a daughter whose father might include the Prince of Wales , who later became King George IV .
In 1784 Lady Elliott was the Duke of Orléans, a cousin of the French King Louis XVI. , presented. The two began an affair and he took them to France with him in 1786. Their liaison ended when the revolution began. Although Grace disapproved of the Duke participating in the coup under the name Philippe Égalité, they remained friends. After the Tuileries Storm and the arrest of the royal family, Grace fled to her country house in Meudon . However, at the request of a friend, she returned to Paris to bring a survivor of the September murders out of the city. As it turned out, this (the governor of the Tuileries Champcenetz) was an enemy of the duke. Nevertheless, Orléans helped him to escape to England. Later Lady Elliott was arrested for sympathy for the counterrevolution , but, unlike the Duke, escaped the guillotine . After the fall of Robespierre , she retired to her estate near Ville-d'Avray , where she died as a wealthy woman.
diary
Her posthumously published Journal of my Life During the French Revolution is said to have been censored by her granddaughter and embellished by the editor. Much of it is imagination.
filming
The 2001 film L'anglaise et le duc (The Lady and the Duke) by Éric Rohmer (screenplay and direction) with Lucy Russell and Jean-Claude Dreyfus in the leading roles follows the journal, but seems - thanks to the involvement of a historian and more contemporary Image sources - to convey a relatively accurate picture of the events and the epoch.
See also
literature
- Armand Baschet: Histoire de Philippe Égalité, Grandet, Paris 1851.
- Grace Dalrymple Elliott: Journal of my Life During the French Revolution, Richard Bentley, London 1859 ( digitized ).
- Horace Bleackley: Ladies Fair and Frail, Sketches of the Demi-Monde During the Eighteenth Century, John Lane, London / New York 1909, pp. 189–244 ( digitized ).
- Jo Manning: My Lady Scandalous: The Amazing Life and Outrageous Times of Grace Dalrymple Elliot, Royal Courtesan, Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group 2005, ISBN 0-7432-6262-X .
- Joanne Major, Sarah Murden: An Infamous Mistress: The Life, Loves and Family of the Celebrated Grace Dalrymple Elliott, Pen & Sword History, Barnsley 2016, ISBN 978-1-47384-483-4 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Grace Dalrymple Elliott: Journal of my Life During the French Revolution, Richard Bentley, London 1859 ( digitized version ).
- ↑ See Horace Bleackley: Ladies Fair and Frail, Sketches of the Demi-Monde During the Eighteenth Century, John Lane, London / New York 1909, pp. 189–244 ( digitized version ).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Elliott, Grace |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Elliott, Grace Dalrymple (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Scottish courtesan and mistress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1754 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Edinburgh |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1823 |
| Place of death | Ville-d'Avray |