When the Chevalier d’Eon left France in 1762, he was a diplomat, a spy, a Dragoon captain, and a man. When she returned in 1777, at the age of 49, she was a celebrity, a writer, a fencer, and a woman—by declaration by the government of France.
Chevalier d’Eon was born Charles d’Eon de Beaumont, and in mid-life changed genders to a woman, Charlotte. d’Eon’s military exploits in the Seven Years’ War, diplomatic role in the Treaty of Paris, and service as a spy for King Louis XV was all overshadowed by being the first trans aristocrat. Born biologically a male, the Chevalier was legally declared female by French King Louis XVI and the English courts. She spent the last 33 years of her life as a woman.
Why the gender change in an age when such a thing was unheard of? The answer is complex, involving intrigue, politics, celebrity, and feminism. The true meaning behind d’Eon’s transformation has been guessed at for centuries. Some modern trans groups have adopted her and named themselves in d’Eon’s honor.
Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Timothée d’Eon de Beaumont was born in 1728 to a minor aristocrat family in Tonnerre, Burgundy. After an uneventful childhood, he completed his studies at Collège Mazarin with a law degree. At 21, d’Eon’s family secured him a position in civil service. He steadily climbed the ranks and in 1756, became secretary to the French ambassador to Russia.
Then in 1756, the Seven Years’ War erupted between Britain and France. d’Eon served as a Captain of Dragoons and earned a reputation as a courageous soldier who was even wounded in battle. By year’s end though, d’Eon was recruited for le Secret du Roi, or the King’s Secret. It was a network of French spies working directly for King Louis XV.
Upon entering the spy service, d’Eon’s life would never be the same.
As Secretary of the Embassy in St. Petersburg, d’Eon was charged with fostering good relations with the Russian court of Tzarina Elizabeth. This role, however, was just a cover. Secretly, the King tasked d’Eon with gathering intelligence in the court of the Tzarina.
Charles d’Eon was charming, clever, and hardworking. While there, the Tzarina routinely threw “Metamorphosis Balls” where men dressed as women and women as men. Such cross-dressing was much more socially accepted then and it would have a profound effect on young Charles d’Eon.
As the war dragged on, France’s losses on the battlefield and debt mounted. In 1762, the King sent d’Eon to London as part of a diplomatic team to negotiate peace with Britain. The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1763. d’Eon was rewarded for his role with the Order of Saint-Louis, a huge honor for a man of just 35. It came with a generous pension and the French title of Chevalier, or “Sir.”
Desperate for revenge against King George, King Louis regrouped the Secret with a new purpose: plan to invade Britain. The foreign ministry named d’Eon minister plenipotentiary, with the status of interim ambassador to the British court. This was an excellent cover for his spying activities – directing a survey of the English coast to find a good point for an invasion.
Career-wise, things were looking up. But within months, it would all begin to crumble. Chevalier d’Eon had expensive tastes and was enjoying a luxurious lifestyle in London. Plus, he was only the interim ambassador. The real ambassador, the Comte de Guerchy, would arrive within the year, when d’Eon would be demoted to secretary. A frustrated d’Eon found the whole situation untenable. He let his superiors at Versailles just know that in a series of angry lettres.
Just 6 months after his appointment, d’Eon was fired for insolence.
He was to return to Versailles for further disciplining. d’Eon boldly decided that he was not going to obey. Why should he return and possible be sent to the Bastille? He knew that his position as a spy in the Secret du Roi afforded him the King’s protection. The French Foreign Ministry then publicly ordered d’Eon be deported back to France. The British foreign minister refused, stating that d’Eon was free to stay.
When the King heard that d’Eon refused to return, he froze d’Eon’s pension. The French Ministry then made several attempts to kidnap and send him back or France. An increasingly desperate and angry Chevalier made a daring and dangerous move: Blackmail Versailles.
d’Eon threatened to tell everything he knew about le Secret if his position was not restored. In 1764, he fired a warning shot and published a scandalous book, Lettres, mémoires et négociations particulières du chevalier d’Éon, the first of several promised volumes. He leaked all his private diplomatic correspondence since being named secretary in Russia, embarrassing many powerful figures in Versailles.
Suddenly Chevalier d’Eon was talked about by ministers, in newspapers, cafes, and salons. The publication was tantamount to treason, yet the King had to be careful given d’Eon’s secret role as spy. The promise of further volumes was a blatant threat and it worked. Behind all the bad press, now that he was declared a public enemy of France, this made him even more useful as a spy.
Louis XV had given d’Eon a lifelong pension of 12,000 livres a year and allowed to stay in England in exchange for reports about British politics. He was ‘formally’ forbidden from returning to France. d’Eon’s next volumes in his scandalous tell-all series never appeared. He spent the next decade in “exile” in London, while still serving his King.
Meanwhile, rumors were swirling that the Chevalier was in fact a woman.
Due to his fair features and effeminate nature, tabloids portrayed d’Eon as half man, half woman. Rather than refute the statements, he claimed it was no one’s business and refused to publicly reveal his gender, prolonging the debate for years. The London Stock Exchange even began taking bets on the Chevalier’s sex.
While the publication of his book made him a celebrity, the speculation around his gender made d’Eon a household name. Mentions of the controversy have been even found in letters from the King Louis XV, who wrote to a general in 1770: “Do you know that d’Eon is in fact a woman?” In Paris, the scandal was getting too big for the French government to ignore. Was the Chevalier actually a Chevalière?
By now, many in Versailles began to believe Chevalier d’Eon was secretly a woman. The rumors and gossip were enough that in 1771, London bookmakers started taking bets on his gender—3:2 odds that he was a woman. The publicity did have its downsides. d’Eon could not leave his house without bodyguards, as there were demands to settle the matter and see him naked.
In 1772, a French secretary in the le Secret came to London to investigate d’Eon personally. He left a month later, convinced that d’Eon was in fact a female dressed as a male. From that point on, the French government took it as fact that the Chevalier was indeed a woman. It is unknown whether he ever had a sexual partner, and if so, what sex they were.
When Louis XV died in 1774, Louis XVI, wanted the Secret du Roi abolished. He saw no utility in having two foreign policies, one public and one secret. Moreover, the new king no longer wanted to invade Britain. It remained to be seen how young Louis XVI would deal with d’Eon. The chevalier’s fate was again in jeopardy.
In 1775, Pierre Beaumarchais, a representative of the French government, went to London to negotiate his return to France. Chevalier d’Eon told Beaumarchis a fictional tale that he had been born female, but forced into the role of a boy by a tyrannical father who wanted a son. This story would enable him to retire from le Secret and return to France, a ‘heroine.’ One who had dressed up as a man in service to Louis XV.
Chevalier d’Eon agreed to sign The Transaction.
He would give up all his secret papers and return to France ASAP. Versailles knew if the secrets d’Eon possessed were ever revealed, England might go to war with France again. The king agreed to pay some of his debts and restore his pension. AND he would publicly recognize d’Eon as a woman. The Chevalier thereafter agreed to dress as a woman for the rest of his life.
Strangely, the Transaction worked, Chevalier d’Eon could finally return to France. The Chevalier was still wearing male clothes in Britain. He arrived wearing his Dragoon captain’s uniform. The King commanded Marie-Antoinette’s personal dressmaker to create a new wardrobe for d’Eon. The transition was not easy as he thought. d’Eon complained, “It is more difficult to equip an elegant lady of court than a company of Dragoons from head to foot.”
d’Eon was finally able to embrace womanhood. In 1777, Mademoiselle la Chevaliere d’Eon was formally presented at Versailles, “reborn” in an elaborate dress, powdered hair, and heavy make-up. By then, French society had heard the story d’Eon told Beaumarchais and accepted it, hailing her as a heroine akin to Joan of Arc. She was sought out by the likes of Voltaire, Rousseau and even Ambassador Benjamin Franklin.
But the reality of life as a woman was disappointing in one respect, her political voice was now muted. When France joined the American War of Independence in 1778, d’Eon petitioned the government to allow her to wear her Dragoon captain’s uniform and go to the war for France. The war ministry refused her request. When d’Eon continued to publicly make demands, she was briefly thrown into a dungeon in the Chateau Dijon for 19 days.
Every further political effort d’Eon made would be quashed by the French government. It eventually forced her into retirement on her family estate in rural Tonnerre. In 1785, she moved back to England, seeking freedom once again from the controlling French government. Britain welcomed her back as a heroine.
Then the French Revolution erupted 1789 and Louis XVI was beheaded.
d’Eon’s family estate in Tonnerre was seized by the new republic. With the King’s Transaction nullified, she was left with in England with no pension and no home to return to. In London, d’Eon was often broke and supported herself by participating in fencing matches publicly, a sight that drew large crowds to see her.
By 1791, d’Eon, now in her 60s, and resorted to selling her personal book collection to make ends meet. Her sword-fighting career lasted until 1796, when she was badly injured during a tournament and had to retire. She was forced to share a flat with another elderly woman, a widow named Mrs. Cole. The once famous d’Eon became a virtual shut-in and saw very few people, often too ill to leave her bedroom.
There, D’Eon began writing her memoirs, which were not published in her lifetime.
“What I am writing is not for the feeble souls of this century,” d’Eon wrote. “How much I have suffered in both body and soul. All that I know for certain is that my transformation has made me into a new creature.”
She died on 21 May 1821, at the age of 81. Mrs. Cole made a shocking discovery when she went to dress her friend’s body for burial. The woman was actually a man! She was so shocked, she called in a physician, who determined that d’Eon was biologically male. d’Eon’s 1821 obituary described her as a “political character” remembered for her “questionable gender.” That narrative dominated d’Eon’s legacy in the 19th century.
d’Eon had collected books on famous women throughout history eventually amassing one of the largest collections of feminist writing in Europe. Women, d’Eon believed, were more morally superior to men. She believed that whether anyone lives as a man or a woman was a personal choice.
More modern ideas about sexuality reframe d’Eon as not a political character, but rather as someone who was simply exploring her gender identity. d’Eon is still a popular figure today in music, plays, anime, gaming, and pop culture. She is regarded today as a founding figure in the LGBTQ+ transgender community.
In d’Eon’s 18th century beliefs, gender was fluid; one can make a decision about which to choose. The arguments we have in the 21st century about what trans people should be allowed to do, OR that society should not be making that decision for them, this is right out d’Eon’s playbook. Perhaps the Chevalier d’Eon was simply a person born 240 years ahead of her time.
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