16th May 1823 saw the death in France of Grace Elliott, the renowned Scottish society beauty and cou

16th May 1823 saw the death in France of Grace Elliott, the renowned Scottish society beauty and courtesan who witnessed at first hand the French Revolution.Born in Edinburgh in 1754, Grace Dalrymple Elliott became one of the most sought after women in Europe.Educated in a French convent, her barrister father Hew Dalrymple later introduced her to Edinburgh society where she received numerous marriage proposals. Grace, however, fearless, beautiful and wild, was to reject tradition.Unhappily married and then divorced, she went on to have affairs with the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Orleans, later known as Philippe Egalité.She lived a scandalous and remarkable life, maintaining dangerous alliances and surviving treachery and betrayal.Her memoir, an eyewitness account of the Revolution, recounts a time of turbulent politics, dark days and lethal enemies during an infamous time in history, which she witnessed while living in Paris.Entertaining her relationship with the Duke of Orleans, Grace had unprecedented access to the highest ranks of court life, which she vividly recounts. After her arrival in Paris she was forced to escape violent Revolutionists and the Mob to stay in Meudon, where she was at the mercy of domestic spies and harboured a wanted man.Unable to fleehome, she was then imprisoned and became gravely ill.Although many of her friends met their deaths, including Madame du Barry, Grace only narrowly escaped the guillotine herself. She narrowly avoided death and was released after the Reign of Terror came to an end, not before she had been confined in a total to four different prisons by the Republican government. In later years, there were rumours that she had an attachment with Napoleon Bonaparte, but had rejected his offer of marriage. She died a wealthy woman at Ville d'Avray, in present-day Hauts-de-Seine, in May 1823, while a lodger with the commune’s mayor.  Her memoirs were published in 1859. There’s a wee bit more on her here https://www.historyextra.com/period/georgian/socialite-spy-saviour-grace-dalrymple-elliott/ -- source link

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