Queer Ancestor Spotlight: Chevalier d'Éon
Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Timothée d'Éon de Beaumont, usually known as the Chevalier d'Éon, was born in October 1728 in Burgundy to a minor noble family. Due to their androgynous physical characteristics and natural abilities as a mimic they served as a French diplomat and spy in England and Russia. For the first 49 years of their life they appeared publicly as a man but after 1777 lived as a woman.
Portrait of d'Éon by Thomas Stewart (1792), at the National Portrait Gallery
D’Éon began their adult life as a political writer after graduating from from the Collège Mazarin in 1749. In 1756, they joined a spy network run by King Louis XV without the knowledge of the government called the Secret du Roi, or King's Secret. This spy ring was used by the king to promote policies that conflicted with official government stances and treaties. A famous yet unsubstantiated example of d’Éon’s work with this spy ring is their mission to infiltrate the court of Empress Elizabeth of Russia and conspire with a pro-French faction against the Hapsburgs . While this mission occurred during the period of their life d’Éon was publicly presenting as a man they disguised themselves - convincingly, by all accounts - as a woman, the lady Lia de Beaumont, to circumvent English attempts at preventing the French from entering Russia.
D’Éon did spend time as a diplomat in Russia before serving in the French army during the Seven Years’ War. In 1762 they were sent to London to assist in the drafting of the peace treaty that formally ended the war. In recognition of their service they received the Order of Saint-Louis in 1763, earning the title chevalier (French for knight) and becoming the Chevalier d’Éon. While in London they were also initiated as a Freemason at London’s Immortality Lodge.
Questions about d’Éon’s gender became common during their time in London. Although they routinely wore French military uniforms rumors circulated they were actually a woman, with a betting pool on their true gender started on the London Stock Exchange which lasted a year with no result. D’Éon declined to comment on the matter.
With the appointment of a new ambassador to the British Empire, d’Éon’s station quickly deteriorated. They found themselves at odds with the French king and disobeyed an order to return to France. As leverage, they published some of the secret documents from the Secret du Roi but withheld some of the most damning as insurance. This forced the French government to be cautious in their approach and also made d’Éon a celebrity with the British public. D’Éon would live in political exile until the death of King Louis XV.
Following the death of the king the Secret du Roi was abolished and d’Éon negotiated a return to France. In this negotiation they claimed to have been assigned female at birth, only having been declared a boy by their father for purposes of inheritance, and demanded formal recognition of being a woman by the government. The government agreed and, after taking ownership of the remaining incriminating documents still in d’Éon’s possession, also allowed them to retain the insignia of the Order of Saint-Louis.
D’Éon returned to England in 1785, living off of the negotiated pension from the French government. With the French Revolution that pension came to an end and d’Éon was forced to sell their personal possessions to survive. They ultimately died in poverty in London in 1810 at the age of 81, and were buried in the churchyard of St. Pancras Old Church. In a post-mortem examination d’Éon was found by the physician to have "male organs in every respect perfectly formed," as well as "breast remarkably full."
