Jump to content

Alexandrine Charlotte de Rohan-Chabot

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by BeatrixBelibaste (talk | contribs) at 04:36, 24 June 2022 (+portrait by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Rosalie, Duchesse de La Rochefoucauld
Alexandrine Charlotte de Rohan-Chabot, 1789, by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun
Born1763
Died1839
SpouseLouis Alexandre de La Rochefoucauld d'Enville, Boniface Louis Andre, Marquis de Castellane
Names
Alexandrine Charlotte de Rohan-Chabot, Duchesse de La Rochefoucauld

Alexandrine Charlotte "Rosalie" de Rohan-Chabot (1763–1839), the duchesse de La Rochefoucauld was a French duchess and letter writer, known for the events of her life during the French Revolution.

She witnessed the infamous Reign of Terror at firsthand, including the assassination of her husband (and uncle) the Duc de La Rochefoucauld in Gisors during the September Massacres (they had married in 1780 and the marriage was childless) and the execution of her brother. In 1810 she remarried by wedding her relative, Boniface Louis Andre, Marquis de Castellane.[1]

She was also the lover of U.S. ambassador William Short, the "adoptive son" of Thomas Jefferson. Their love affair was recorded in hundreds of letters, which document the lovers' pains of separation and their frustration with social norms. Likewise, their words of devotion are especially poetic and moving. The love letters are an authentic literary contribution, and offer personal insights into a turbulent era of world history.[2]

References

  1. ^ Shackelford, p. 160
  2. ^ “William Short, Jefferson's Only "Son"” The North American Review, September 1926, p. 471-486

Attribution

  • Kimball, Marie Goebel (Third Quarter 1926). William Short, Jefferson's Only "Son". The North American Review.