Julie de Saint-Laurent

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Julie de Montgenêt de Saint-Laurent, around 1800

Alphonsine Thérèse Bernadine Julie de Montgenêt de Saint-Laurent (born September 30, 1760 in Besançon , † August 8, 1830 in Paris ) was by marriage Baronne de Fortisson and the long-time mistress of Prince Edward August, Duke of Kent and Strathearn .

Life

Julie de Montgenêt came from an old noble Norman family and came to Halifax through her husband, Jean Charles de Mestre, Baron de Fortisson . At a reception given by Governor John Wentworth , Madame de Saint-Laurent, as she was later called, met the British Prince Edward (1767-1820). This was the fourth son of King George III. of Great Britain and Ireland and Commander in Chief of the British Forces in North America . She separated from her husband and from then on lived with Edward in Québec . When he received his appointment as governor of Gibraltar in 1802 , she accompanied him there.

Edward's brother Friedrich August , the king's second eldest son and commander in chief of the armed forces, eventually dismissed him from active service after countless complaints. Resigned to the field marshal's title but without employment, Edward settled privately with Julie de Saint-Laurent in Knightsbridge and officially at Kensington Palace . Both joined many charitable organizations. When the only daughter of the Prince Regent, Charlotte Augusta , died in 1817 giving birth to their first child, Edward submitted to the state of affairs and separated from Julie de Saint-Laurent after 27 years. He married the widowed Princess Marie Louise Victoire von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld . Her brother was Charlotte's widower Leopold . Compared to de Saint-Laurent, the Duchess was of a somewhat simpler disposition, pretty and rather small.

Although the Duke of Kent died before his three older brothers, since none of them had legitimate descendants, his daughter Victoria became Queen after the death of Wilhelm IV . His daughter knew of her father's connection, but all contemporary biographies were respectfully silent about it. Julie de Saint-Laurent later received from Louis XVIII. awarded the title of Comtesse de Montgenet .

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Lucy M. Brown, Ian Ralph Christie (Eds.): Bibliography of British History. Volume 4: 1789-1851 . Clarendon Press, Oxford 1977, ISBN 0-19-822390-0 .
  2. ↑ Karl Heinz Wocker: Queen Victoria - The story of an age . Heyne, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-453-55072-2 .
personal data
SURNAME Saint-Laurent, Julie de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Saint-Laurent, Alphonsine Thérèse Bernadine Julie de Montgenêt de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mistress of Prince Edward August, Duke of Kent and Strathearn
DATE OF BIRTH September 30, 1760
PLACE OF BIRTH Besançon
DATE OF DEATH August 8, 1830
Place of death Paris