This lady was an 18th-century
Scottish courtesan who lived during the time of the French Revolution.
She was born in Edinburgh and later moved to London,
where she became a popular figure in high society
and had affairs with several prominent figures,
including the Prince of Wales and the French Duke of Orleans.
After moving to France, she became one of Orleans’ mistresses
and lived in Paris throughout the French Revolution.
Although, she was imprisoned several times during the Reign of Terror,
she somehow survived and was eventually released.
She then put pen to paper and wrote about her experiences during the revolution,
which have become one of the best-known English-language accounts of the period.
So let’s now take a look at the turbulent life of Grace Elliott
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historical stories.
Elliott’s early life was an intriguing one, having been born around 1754
in Edinburgh as the youngest daughter of Grissel Brown and Hew Dalrymple.
She was separated from her parents at birth, and probably raised by
her grandparents.
After receiving a French convent education,
she was introduced into Edinburgh society by her father and soon caught the eye of
John Elliott, a prominent and wealthy physician who was 18 years her senior.
Yet, despite the age difference, Elliott accepted his marriage proposal,
and the couple married in London in 1771.
However, the two soon found themselves growing apart, as their interests
and ages diverged.
In 1774,
Elliott fell in love with Lord Valentia, which sparked an affair
and eventually led to John Elliott suing Valentia for adultery.
The lawsuit resulted in £12,000 in damages
and a divorce for the Elliott’s.
The affair and lawsuit ruined Elliott’s social reputation,
leading her to become a professional mistress.
She was taken by her brother to a French convent,
but was swiftly brought back by Lord Cholmondeley, who became her lover
and one of her main protectors for the remainder of her life.
An encounter at the Pantheon
in 1776 between the courtesan, Elliott, and Lord Cholmondeley,
marked the start of a torrid love affair that lasted for three scintillating years.
Elliott’s inner circle was loaded with notorious courtesans
such as Gertrude Mahon and Kitty Frederick.
The legendary artist, Thomas Gainsborough, captured Elliott’s stunning beauty in
two portraits painted in 1778, which now grace
the walls of the Frick Collection and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Elliott’s affair with the Prince of Wales, who later became King George
IV, was a scandal that was kept under wraps.
The dalliance was brief, but it resulted in the birth of a daughter
on March 30th, 1782, who was baptized Georgiana
Augusta Frederica Seymour but went by the name Georgina Seymour.
Despite the child’s dark complexion, Elliott proclaimed that the Prince
was the father, and The Morning Post
even stated that the Prince had admitted his responsibility.
However, the Prince was heard to have retorted, “To convince me
that this is my girl they must first prove that black is white.”
Despite Elliott’s claims, the Prince
and many others believed that Lord Cholmondeley was the father of the girl.
Some of the Prince’s friends suggested that Charles William Wyndham,
the brother of Lord
Egremont, was the father, due to the child’s resemblance to him.
Yet others believed that the girl was sired by George Selwyn.
Regardless of the truth, Lord Cholmondeley took
care of the infant.
In 1784,
the Prince of Wales, George, introduced her to the French Duke of Orleans,
launching a passionate affair that would endure for several years.
The Duke, enamoured with her charm and wit, provided her with a luxurious residence
on the Rue Miromesnil and a property in Meudon.
But during this time, Elliott continued to indulge in other affairs
with prominent figures.
Her life in France
is well-documented in her memoirs, “Journal of my life
during the French Revolution,” published in 1859 by Richard Bentley.
This work has
become one of the most celebrated accounts of The Terror, chronicling the movements
of the Duke of Orleans and his aristocratic Jacobin circle.
Elliott was privy to the horrors of the September massacres
and the grisly display of the Princess de Lamballe’s body
in the streets.
Despite being an associate of the Duke, Elliott’s royalist sympathies
were widely known, resulting in her home being searched frequently.
Recent discoveries reveal that she served as a messenger
for the British government, facilitating communication between Paris
and the exiled French court in Coblenz and Belgium.
Elliott fearlessly put herself in harm’s
way to aid and protect fleeing aristocrats.
After the Tuileries Palace assault in 1792,
she rescued the injured Marquis de Champcentz, hiding him in her home
and even feigning illness to protect him from discovery.
She also took in Madame de Perigord and her children
and arranged for their escape to England.
However, in the spring of 1793, Elliott was arrested and imprisoned,
spending the rest of The Terror in various penitentiaries,
including the Recollets and the Carmes.
In her writings, she describes her harrowing prison experiences,
including the physical and emotional torment she faced
and the sickness and deprivation of her fellow prisoners.
But her accounts remain a vivid portrayal of the suffering
inflicted during the Revolution.
Despite being surrounded by tragedy as many of her acquaintances met
their untimely end during the Reign of Terror, the fate of the renowned
courtesan and political spy, Elliott, took a different turn.
During the height of the bloodbath, she was thrown into a maelstrom of danger,
dodging death by a hair’s breadth and facing the horrors
of confinement in four different prisons.
However, her resilience and cunning helped her to outwit
the Republican government and emerge unscathed.
As she navigated the post-revolutionary years, whispers began
to circulate of a possible romance between Elliott and Napoleon Bonaparte.
Although the specifics of their relationship remain shrouded in mystery,
it is rumoured that the emperor made a proposal of marriage,
only to be rebuffed by the courtesan.
In her later years, Elliott lived a life of wealth and luxury,
passing away at Ville d’Avray, near Paris, in May 1823.
She was laid to rest at the famous Père Lachaise
Cemetery, among the luminaries of French society.
And so our story ends.
Not only did Grace have a tumultuous life
but one in which she navigated on her own terms.
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