![Guest Post: Queer Ancestor Spotlight - Denis Rake](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e3a0cb2034a022490a8a6ea/1641765587883-018I2G64FSO53D3X21LO/Guest+Post+thumbnail.jpg)
Guest Post: Queer Ancestor Spotlight - Denis Rake
I’m excited to share my first guest Queer Ancestor Spotlight. Boudica spent time researching an amazing and almost unbelievable character from World War 2 history, Denis Rake. I hope you enjoy this deep dive into the colorful and exciting life of a British spy.
![Queer Ancestor Spotlight: Chevalier d'Éon](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e3a0cb2034a022490a8a6ea/1629392408519-F71ARL4FWQ1RSGC15GLB/Queer+Ancestor+Spotlight.jpg)
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.