Chevalière d'Éon

This article is about the historical figure. For the television series based on this figure, see Le Chevalier D'Eon.

Chevalière d'Éon
Chevalier d'Éon wearing the chivalric Order of Saint Louis, a military honour of the Kingdom of France. Painting by Thomas Stewart (1792), at the National Portrait Gallery, London
Born5 October 1728
Tonnerre, Yonne, France
Died21 May 1810(1810-05-21) (aged 81)
London, United Kingdom
Resting placeSt Pancras Old Church

Charlotte d'Éon de Beaumont (5 October 1728 – 21 May 1810), usually known as the Chevalière d'Éon or the Chevalier d'Éon, was a French diplomat, spy, and soldier. D'Éon fought in the Seven Years' War, and spied for France while in Russia and England. Assigned male at birth, D'Éon had androgynous physical characteristics and natural abilities as a mimic and spy. She appeared publicly as a man and pursued masculine occupations for the first half of her life, except for when she successfully infiltrated the court of Empress Elizabeth of Russia by presenting as a woman. Starting in 1777, d'Éon lived as a woman and was officially recognised as such by King Louis XVI.


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