Extras Index > A Tranvestite Master
Swordsman: the Case of Chevalier d'Eon
Sadly, no matter how much I tried, I was unable to work
a transvestite swordsman into The Serpent Prince
. . .
A Tranvestite Master Swordsman: the Case of Chevalier
d'Eon
In
the eighteenth century, one of the most skilled swordsmen in France—and
perhaps the world—was a man who habitually dressed as a woman. Or perhaps
he/she was a woman who sometimes dressed as a man. No one was quite sure and enormous
sums of money were wagered over the true sex of the Chevalier d’Eon.
He was born Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Thimothée
d'Eon de Beaumont in 1728 in Tonnere, France. His mother was a noblewoman, his
father a lawyer. After his schooling was completed, d’Eon worked for the
government and was soon recruited into Le Secret du Roi—a spy organization
that worked 
for
King Louis XV himself. In 1755 d’Eon was sent to spy at the court of Empress
Elizabeth of Russia—disguised as a woman. Upon his return to France d’Eon
was made a captain of the elite Dragoons.
In 1763, d’Eon was sent to London as a representative of
the French government. Although he usually dressed as a man—in the uniform
of a Dragoon captain—rumors spread that he was in fact a woman. By the early
1770’s bets were being placed as to d’Eon’s true gender. About
this time d’Eon became embroiled in political intrigues and was afraid he
would be killed should he return to France. Several years were spent in negotiations
with the French government until d’Eon finially came to an agreement with
King Louis XVI. D’Eon would hand over important documents to the French
government and in return he would be awarded a pension . . . and the right to
live as a woman. D’Eon returned to France in 1777 and Queen Marie Antoinette
herself helped fund his woman’s wardrobe.
By
1785, d’Eon found it expediant to return to England. His fortunes were greatly
reduced by this time and he supported himself by participating in demonstration
sword fights, always dressed as a woman. For fourteen years before his death he
lived with a widowed woman, Mrs. Cole.
When d’Eon died in 1810, his body was examined and it was
declared once and for all that d’Eon was neither a woman nor a hermaphrodite
(as many had speculated) but a man.
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