Very little is known from this famous Chevalier d’Eon about his birth as well as when he grew up, but even though he was somewhat famous in France back in the days, he marked history in his very own way. Or should I say, in their very own way. But that’s what we know for a fact.

Charles-Genevieve-Louis-Auguste-André-Timothée d’Eon de Beaumont (yes, I know, they used to have very long names before… and I can relate to it when I chose my name too) was born in Tonnere, in what is now a small city in the Burgundy region in France, on the 5th of October 1728. Tonnerre isn’t a big city nowadays, and it’s actually more like a village, and it was the case back in the days, and the D’Eon de Beaumont family, a poor noble family settled there for many generations, was still an important family there. In fact, D’Eon’s father was an attorney and also the director of the king’s dominion, and eventually became the mayor of this small town. His mother, on the other hand, was the daughter of the Commissioner of wars in Spain and Italy, wars that raged time before that.

But D’Eon was actually a brilliant student at school. He was also excellent in fencing, which will be something that will help him in the future and he seem to have started to make a name out of it when he was young, and eventually graduated in canon law and civil law in Paris from the prestigious College Mazarin back in 1749 when he was 21. He eventually considered becoming a priest but… somehow he renounced, and given the story that is to come, it was certainly an excellent idea. Amongst D’Eon passions were indeed writing, and fencing, but he started attracting attention when he published work as a contributor to the Année Littéraire’s book of Elie Catherine Freron, and also published in 1753 other works, more commenting on the administrative and financial situation of the kingdom. But he was young, and indeed, the fact that he soon worked as a private secretary for Bertie’s de Sauvigny would open him the world of the High society of Paris and the Kingdom of France. He was also appointed as a Royal censor for history by Malesherbes, a famous writer, in 1758.

So now you’re gonna say, it’s not bad, for someone who comes from a small village in Burgundy, already flirting with the high society, in such a short time… that’s quite an impressive ascension. And indeed, it’s not bad at all. But… d’Eon wasn’t famous for his writing. Or not only.

No. Rumour has it that during a fine evening of 1756, during a party at Versailles Palace where the king was, a beautiful woman was dancing. And Louis XV, not only famous for having lost the important war, had, let’s say, a certain passion for women. Like… a big passion. And of course, such a beautiful woman, dancing in the middle of those polite people, he simply couldn’t resist. So he went to her. And as soon as the king started to become, let’s say, engaging, the beautiful lady replied with a strong male voice, kind of similar to mine and simply said, “well, your majesty, I am probably not the person you think I am”.

Now you find me wondering how satisfying it must be to say no to a king. Anyway.

And guess what?

Times later, D’Eon was appointed to what is called the Secret du Roi, which is, in a way, the very first French secret services. Basically, this sort of agency was a composed of a few handpicked people working directly with the king, without the knowledge of the government. So, of course, a guy who’s THAT good at crossdressing can only be hired by the king and little did he know that this party was a strange form of job interview without even being one. Anyway, according to his memoirs, he was sent with the Chevalier Douglas, a Scottish Jacobite at the service of France, in a secret mission to Russia. The objective? Make sure that the Tzarina Elisabeth would conspire with the pro-French against the Habsburg, by then leading Austria and Germany, and having freshly lost power over Spain.

So… why Louis XV sent one of his spy to Russia? Well, it’s all about the British.

As you guys know, back in the days, the French and English were rivals, and have been rivals for very long. For example, the Hundred Years’ War, between the French and the Brits, war that lasted by the way a whooping hundred and sixteen years, brought the Middle Age France in a quite strange situation, before being ultimately won by the French who recovered their territories. But now, more contemporary to d’Eon lifetime took place the War of Spanish Succession. What triggered the conflict was the recent king of Spain, Charles II, died very young, over a very poor health, caused by his parents’ long embrace with consanguinity. As this king belonged to the Habsburg family, and died aged 38 without having kids… simply because he was too sick to have any, the Habsburg Family, also reigning over Austria, were thinking that, since their cousin died, it would probably be a good idea to send one of their to claim Spain over again. Of course, Great Britain was like, go, mate, send your guy and I’ll back you up, but since King Louis XIV joined the chat and said, “no guys, that’s not gonna happen”, so of course it led to a clash between France and Britain. And since Louis XIV was Louis XIV, he obviously won the war, placing his brother, Philip, as the new king of Spain.

But the British didn’t like that. Like, they didn’t like that at all, in fact. Because you know, France and Britain, as soon as the occasion to come to a quick war showed up, they were up for a quick fight. Hopefully things have changed today.

So what Britain did, bitter of their previous defeat, they started plotting against France a bit everywhere in Europe. And also in Russia. How? Well, by simply denying entry to Russia to French men, allowing only women and children to cross the Russian border. But also because… something big was coming out very soon, in fact.

Now you see where I am coming in all this story?

So Madame Lia de Beaumont arrived in Russia in June 1756, and managed to make his… sorry, her way as a maid of honour to Tzarina Elizabeth. It is not well known how the Chevalier d’Eon managed to make her way towards the Emperess, as D’Eon himself or herself said something and, the fact that he or she was there in Russia for spying made tracks of what they did unlikely to be accurate to what actually happened. According to d’Eon, she appeared as a women to the Tzarina, but according to different sources, the Prince of Conti was in fact sent to the Russian Embassy, and hired d’Eon, knowing of her spying mission. It was known that the empress liked to organise one of those numerous parties where men were asked to dress as woman and the other way around, (yes, we were in times where it was okay to do that in Russia…) and D’Eon liked to play the game. As he was of course androgynous, he managed to confidently make his way towards the Emperess, and since he was someone the kind of person who you can easily trust, of course, he played that card at his advantage.

So, of course, in that story, the story of Lia de Beaumont infiltrating the Russian high society and managing to have the Tsarina becoming her ally is just what the Chevalier d’Eon himself… or herself has written in their memories. It is credible since d’Eon could easily adopt the appearance of a woman considering that he was not the very tough guy and, as such, considering the story that is yet to come, it would make sense that he managed to obtain the trust of tsarina by appearing to her as a woman… but there are absolutely no evidence to confirm whether this story is true. And there will probably never be, considering that this was a top secret mission.

But during his mission in Russia, the Seven Years War was raging in Europe, and it was paramount for France to secure an alliance in what was becoming the first draft of a World War. This war led to dramatic consequences for the defeated since, at this period, Europe was basically under an intense political pressure, due to the fact that, France was a superpower, and started expanding in what was the New World and that we know today as the Americas and the United States, and managed to actually colonise there a big portion of the territory. And the British wanted to have their slice of the cake since, indeed, desirous to expand their influence in this new world, but they came late in the party and managed to acquire just a small portion in the east coast of the New World, forming the future colonies that would later become the United States. But as d’Eon was in special mission in Russia, things weren’t going very well for France, who was thinking that, with Russia by their side in the war, it could change the balance and ultimately make France successful on this war.

But D’Eon was someone who knew how to speak and how to impress. In fact, it is said that everything was against him when he arrived in the Russian court, because the truth was, most of the Tsarina advisors were thinking that England would be better allies for entering this war, but with d’Eon around, between 1758 to 1760, whilst the war was still raging, he was infiltrating the Saint-Petersburg Court and, in the term of a two years mission, he turned the tables and the Russians accepted to join the war, becoming allies of the French.

Yay…

Anyway, now Lia de Beaumont was in cloud nine when Elizabeth of Russia decided to send to Louis XV a letter stating that Russia will fight with France, so she came back to France even before the letter arrive, so excited of the news. Either way, this was good news for d’Eon, but the outcome didn’t change. Whilst at Versailles a treaty of alliance was now signed between France and Russia, d’Eon was awarded by the King himself as the captain of the dragons. So, d’Eon, with this, could finally join the army and fight for the country he loved. He was immediately placed under the commandment of the Count of Guerchy, and, the two men very quickly hated each other, as d’Eon wasn’t really the type to receive orders, particularly after his success in Russia. But, even though France was now fighting to win a war that was certainly already lost, d’Eon, fighting in the last campaigns for the country, was badly injured in 1762 and, as a result, resigned from the army to come back as a secret agent.

Sad story, right? Well, what if I actually tell you that the drama has barely begun?

The Seven Years War’ was a strategic war that considerably changed the balance of power in the world. For example, it was the point that started the emergence of the British Empire, that would collapse during the World War Two. The outcome of this war shaped the world that we know today, and losing it was everything but an option. For the first time, people were fighting on every continent, and for the first time in history, and it was not about conquering new colonies… or at least not only, but it was all about defending our country. But in the end, what mostly marked the outcome of the war were a series of intense sessions of negotiations to clarify, who wins what, and mostly from whom. France, in this case, had to give up its colonies on the east of the Mississippi to Great Britain, as well as Canada, on top of returning what has already been taken during the war. But not only, it had to give many islands in the Caribbean’s it had conquered during the war but retained the most important, Martinique and Guadeloupe, and other parts of its empire, but all that was settled in four treaties between the two parts fighting between 1762 and 63 and… apart from a balance of power in colonies, nothing big changed for France and Great Britain, at least in the few years that were coming afterwards.  

Nothing big, at least in Europe. But bitterness remained. I mean, of course, it gave Great Britain the royal way to start building their empire, but this will come eventually later.

For now, Louis XV, having his popularity considerably wrecked by this defeat, started to think about revenge. For that, amongst the plethora of plans he had in mind, he sent D’Eon to London. The idea? Making him a sort of baby ambassador, but the title would officially be called plenipotentiary minister for France to the United Kingdom. And it wasn’t completely silly, since, after all, d’Eon got quite successful at turning Russia as an ally for France, so why not sending him to Britain? Or at least, that was the official mission.

But the undisclosed, unofficial mission remained, though, because, before being a diplomat, d’Eon was before everything a spy. And it was quite important: gathering a maximum of information about the southern coast of Britain, from the cliffs of Folkestone to the remote islands of Cornwall, in order to make sure that an invasion of the Great Britain from France was feasible. And why we thought about d’Eon? Well, because… he was definitely the funny guy for diplomacy. And the meticulous guy for such inside job.

So d’Eon arrived in London, as an ambassador for the King of France. Within the following months, he completed his mission under the phoney excuses of visits and he did a big, big report. Report that he never sent and kept for himself. He literally cartographied everything, all the British coasts, made plans and drafts as to where the French could strike, and went so accurate as to writing the weak spots and the places poorly defended, where Britain could be weak and, he did a gigantic work. At the same time, because this was an undercover work, he also managed to maintain good relationships between France and the UK. How? Well, being a plenipotentiary minister, it granted him many privileges, and of course, made him securing some precious friendship in the British high society. For example, by sending them wine from his very private vineyard in France, or other gifts and, he was, you know, the guy who people liked to listen, the one we could trust on. But, there’s this tiny little detail that I forgot to mention about him: let’s say that d’eon was a big show off. He loved to impress and loved everything that shines. And, the fact was, he organised nearly everyday big parties where he received the high society of London in the French embassy gave probably good impression to the British high society, it had its financial cost, paid entirely by the Kingdom of France and not his pocket.

And since money is unfortunately not bottomless, and all the budget allocated to his embassy disappeared in parties or, not diplomatic expenses indeed, he asked Versailles for an increase of his budget, otherwise he would have to pay for everything from his own pocket. After all, Louis XV never refused him anything, so… what’s the risk to ask, right? A couple of days later, Versailles replied… nah bro. Enough is enough now. The war cost a lot and we’re broke now.

And d’Eon was frustrated. Like, pretty bad. In fact, two things frustrated him. The first thing was the fact that he hasn’t hit the button subscribe to this channel and, as he was also not following me on Instagram so he didn’t have his weekly dose of podcasts, but, after someone told him to do so, he eventually subscribed and clicked on the bell to receive every notifications about when this Taylor was publishing a new podcast. So it was a problem that quickly found its solution. No, what truly frustrated d’Eon was the fact that Louis XV in Versailles told him to f himself off, which was something he wasn’t thinking it would be possible. I mean, come on, Versailles, saying no? Well.

Not only that, but at the same time, things were quite concerning. Louis XV was in fact pretty upset because, he sent d’Eon in Great Britain for spying and being an ambassador, not for partying. And the fact that d’Eon was not really sending anything to him about the mission led King Louis to think: what on Earth is he doing up in London? So, in order to make sure that d’Eon would fulfill his mission for the Kingdom, he made a decision that d’Eon would like even less: he demoted him. He still granted him the privilege to work from London, but he was formally demoted, no longer ambassador of France for the Great Britain. No, instead, Louis needed someone who was trustworthy, someone who would not spend money on parties at the embassy. And… there was in fact one person that seemed fit for the job. And this someone… well… would be another bad news for d’Eon.

When the Count Guerchy arrived in London, not only d’Eon was not welcoming the news quite well, but Guerchy made sure to humiliate him on a daily basis as soon as he arrived in the embassy. First, he made d’Eon one of his secretary, and, even though d’Eon complained about this treatment, he decided to disobey to his orders and return to France. On top of that, d’Eon, in one of his letters to the king, accused Guerchy to try to have him poisoned in a dinner in Soho, in Central London. But the problem was that, Guerchy steadfastly remained on his position of, “I am your boss, you do what I tell you to do”, and d’Eon, steadfastly insubordinate, saying in return “My orders come from the king, you’re no-one to me”, the French government formally requested to the British Government to have D’Eon extradited back to France… to which the British said, “not a chance, baby!” So as d’Eon was disobeying orders, the pension of 2,000 pounds that was granted to him in 1760 immediately stopped in February 1764, and, perhaps in a way to try to call for help or to try to secure the public to his cause as the drama at the French embassy became widely public, d’Eon published a memoir in March 1764, which was the pinnacle of the drama: he publicly insulted Guerchy in this and said that he was clearly unfit for the job. Oh yeah, and he said, “to be continued…” or something like that.

Yeah, because, what was to be continued, was the plans d’Eon still had for the French government and their plans of invasion in Great Britain. So the guy had in his hands the draft for the Seven Years War’ Part II. And that, with the French Government following the London Drama unfolding, became extremely cautious when dealing with him.

So d’Eon was immediately declared as an outlaw and, as a result, went into hiding in Britain, because he knew that, now that the wolf was no longer alone in the sheepfold, the French were going for everything to bring this mess to an end considering the danger d’Eon represented, and he knew that his life was in danger. But, the problem was, he gained a certain sympathy for the British public during the drama at the embassy, who loved to follow the drama ongoing in the newspapers, so that didn’t arrange the affairs for Guerchy, who was jeered when he appeared in public or had many people throwing stones at the windows of his residences.

Fed up by being in a now unsustainable position, Guerchy, probably at his request, was called back to France, whilst d’Eon came out with something, and something quite big. In July 1766, Louis XV granted d’Eon a pension of 12 thousand pounds, which was probably hush money, but d’Eon asked for an extensive 100,000 pounds to clear his debts in Britain, which was refused. D’Eon secured many agreements as the French king understood that he had against him a tough player, for example retaining his job as a spy for the French king, but he needed to live in a political exile in Britain, which meant, he was not allowed to come back to France anymore.  So in some ways, that ended up the drama, as negotiations were settled. Ish.

Yeah because this happened two years after the drama that negotiations started with him. The objective was to kill d’Eon, but this went unsuccessful all along, that’s why the French had to negotiate. You remember, I mentioned that d’Eon came out with something. Yeah because, in fact, the French government settled the story and, this was not a good point for d’Eon, as he fell in disgrace and, no-one truly cared about him anymore. So he came out with another game-changing idea, because he needed attention, as he still had the paper and wanted to blackmail France even more: not only he started dressing like a woman, but he didn’t do only that: he claimed that he has always been a woman.

There was still this thing that were a bit embarrassing. D’Eon had the habit to enjoy cross-dressing. Even though he wore most of the time his uniform as a dragoon for the French king and openly declared his allegiance for the king, many observers caught d’Eon cross-dressing and, in fact, rumour had it that d’Eon was not a man but a woman. This rumour went so far that even a betting pool at the London Stock Exchange started about d’Eon’s actual gender. He was even invited to join and, of course, an examination was requested but d’Eon found it far too dishonouring to take part of it so declined, regardless of the outcome and, he was eventually declared with no examination by many witnesses (but not by d’Eon himself) that, YES, the Chevalier Charles d’Eon is in fact Charlotte d’Eon.

But this was truly embarrassing for the French Kingdom who… well, nowadays, I believe that if such a scandal would happen and no-one would really care, but back in the days, a woman couldn’t be an ambassador, or even a spy. So in 1774, Louis XV wanted to have the final word on this story and sent doctors to palpate him and try to find out because d’Eon refused to take off his clothes. And doctors said that, yes, d’eon is a woman. Even d’Eon said to Louis XV that he was a woman in a letter.

So now in order to remain accurate to the story, I will refer to the Chevalier d’Eon as “she” or “her”

So now, it is important to think, why would d’Eon play that game? Several motives, but in the most credible one was to take her revenge over the country that humiliated her and discredited her. France sent several spies to try to kill her, so I believe that her desire of revenge was quite strong. We know that d’Eon never really had any affair and wasn’t known to be gay or bisexual, she just enjoyed being dressed up as a woman and, but one thing was becoming annoying for d’Eon. She was in a foreign country and, just like any foreigner, it could have happened that… she missed her country.

And there was some opportunity that she was about to seize very quickly: in 1774, Louis XV died. Louis XVI became, as a result, the new King of France, and… perhaps unbeknownst to d’Eon, as they didn’t know each other, the pair still like challenges and the new king has been advised on the d’Eon’s affair. Upon learning the news, she formally requested to come back to France, thinking that there could be a chance with the new king, Louis XVI was like… “yeah, why not. But before I need to make sure you aren’t a threat to the kingdom”. So he sent Beaumarchais for fourteen months of negotiations to London.

And then… the fouls game began. Beaumarchais, besides being a noble, was also a writer, on top of being a statesman, and when he arrived in London, it was an artist against a con artist. Both him and her played a fouls game, because the interest for Madame d’Eon, as she was now thinking that she led the game, was to manipulate Beaumarchais to get what she wanted. In fact, once arrived in London, d’Eon started complaining about her terrible status of poor single woman, and since both her and Beaumarchais were two amazing manipulators… a bit like Charlotte Kominsky, my main character, check my website for more info, d’Eon complained also about her issues with Guerchy, when everything started, and made sure that, she was every day the prettiest woman. She also complained about her unsuccessful requests to the King of France and, of course, her condition. The story of the negotiations went so far that Beaumarchais even proposed d’Eon for marriage, and this went publicly in the London newspapers. But this story seems to have brought d’Eon exhausted, as well as Beaumarchais. And fourteen months later, a deal was agreed: d’Eon will from now on be referred to as a woman, becoming Madame the Chevalier d’Eon, but the deal stressed the fact that now she MUST NEVER QUIT her woman’s outfit. A pension is also granted to d’Eon on her return as part of the deal. She may be a woman and also a troublemaker, she was still a war hero.

But anyway, now d’Eon was happy as she was free to come back to France, and she thought that coming back dressed up as a soldier of the French Kingdom could actually be a great idea. But in reality, she was now taken to her own trap. She left London on the 13th of August 1777 and showed up as such to the Palace dressed as a soldier, perhaps in a provocative move. But towards the end of the month, a Royal Ordinance is taken forcing her to leave her uniform and wear women outfit. The Queen Marie-Antoinette even offered to pay to Madame d’Eon a completely new outfit, and as such, d’Eon, perhaps humiliated once again, appeared before the King in 23rd of November 1777 clad in a stunning dress and corset. And at this moment, the King tells d’Eon that, from now on, she is to stay in Tonnerre, the city where she was born, to take care of her family house… Leaving? Not a chance, darling!

I can only imagine how d’Eon must have felt. How many swearings must have passed in her mind when she heard this.

So, she went back to Tonnerre, where she was welcomed by the locals as, the hero of the villages is back! And she was certainly like, “yay!!!” But, back there, d’Eon was happy because she’s now back in France, the country she loved so much, and, she can spend time taking care of her family domain, and meet with the locals, spend time to relax…

No, I’m joking, she was bored, intergalactically bored. She was so bored that in 1779, when the American Independence War broke, she wanted to join it and fight against England with Lafayette and was arrested as soon as she tried to leave Tonnerre. Louis XVI was certainly feeling like, “she made the drama to be recognised as a woman, here she is now!”

Either way, Louis XVI started becoming less severe towards her and allowed her to come back to Paris in 1783 and found out that, in November 1785, her landlord in London, looking for her, thinking that she was still there and since she thought that she could only come for a few months in France, started to claim the unpaid rents since she left London. And the landlord threatened to evict her, which started to be a bit of a problem for her as, in London, she had all her books and, there is something that is more precious to her eyes than anything, it’s her books. And the other problem is that, d’Eon does no longer has her pension paid since she broke the law wanting to go to fight in America, so she did no longer had the money to pay the landlord.

And when you enter into the spiral of debts, it never ends, especially when you were a former high-profile personality who always wanted to remain on top, the fall was unfortunately looming for d’Eon, as, this time, she didn’t have anything to use to blackmail anyone as she gave back the sensitive documents to Louis XVI as part of the deal to return to France. When she returned to London, she understood that the only way to pay off her debt was to finally sell her library. Oh, now, you guys may believe, why do I still call d’Eon she, as she used the fact that that she was allegedly a woman to manage to make her way back to France? Well, remember when I mentioned the story of the bet, and of the story with Beaumarchais? Yeah, now, she was deeply rooted into her very own trap, and her mysterious gender was the only thing that she could use to attract attention over her.

Either way, d’Eon, now poor, and with no incomes, was struggling to survive, being now just another glory from the past. On the 9th of April 1787, the Prince of Wales, who was to become the future king George IV of the United Kingdom, organised a fencing competition between her and the Chevalier de Saint-George, who came to England just for the occasion. D’Eon won, despite the fact that she was not wearing an appropriate outfit for the competition, and this victory carved in stone his reputation of an excellent fencer.

But, beyond the English Channel, things were moving in France. We were now in 1792 and the French Revolution took of the streets in France after years of political turmoil, and D’Eon saw this with a hopeful eye. She signed a petition, asking to be reintegrated in the French army, citing her deep patriotism and other excuses, but, and this is just me thinking, more because she was completely broke. She even proposed to form a legion called the D’Eon-Tonnerre, made of at least half of veterans and half of new recruits. But this came ignored by the newly formed National Assembly. And the fact that France in the 1st of February 1793 declared war against the Great Britain and the Dutch Republic forced her to remain in Britain. Not only that, but even in France, she’s in heavy debts. So coming back was everything but a wise move.

And the slow downfall of d’Eon, as she was now ageing, started now. Her house in France was confiscated by the revolutionary forces, her belongings sold, and all the sensitive paperwork’s she had in an iron closet were seized. The only thing she had to survive was a 200 pounds pension that King Georges III gave her. To try to survive and make a bit of money, she organised fencing competitions across England, but as she became a bit fatter, she kept on fighting until she turned 68. It is known that, during a duel in Southampton in summer 1796, she was badly injured in her right arm as the sword got broken during the competition, and that was the last fencing competition she ever had. Living poorly, she moved in with Mary Cole, another French expatriate, widow of William Cole, an engineer of the Royal Navy, in December 1796… and in 1804, they both went to prison for debts. They were freed after five months, when d’Eon signed a contract for publishing her autobiography, but, shortly afterwards, in 1806, after a fall, probably following a stroke, she was paralysed, and lived her final four years bedridden, when she departed this life aged 81, at 26 New-Wilman Street, on the 21stof May 1810.

And one of the quotes I love from him/her the most is that, “Naked from the sky I fell down, and naked I am from under that stone, so for having lived on this Earth, I could say I never won or lost.”

But either way, the question still remained. D’Eon, in the end, who were they. A man, or a woman? Well, now that she was dead, the mystery would be solved very quickly. He said that he was a woman, and she remained for nearly 40 years living as a woman without saying anything, and the fact that we know that they were single all along… this would be quickly solved by Dr Copeland, who was the surgeon in charge of d’Eon autopsy. And there were four witnesses to this, and even a drawing has been made to testify of this… for the occasion. And the Chevalier d’Eon was a man, or at least had the attributes of a man. But the question remains, the Chevalier d’Eon may have been a man… what gender does they truly identified to?

The Chevalier D’Eon was buried after a short ceremony on the 28th of May 1810 at the St Pancras Old Church cemetery, where many expatriate French have been buried. You can actually go there nowadays, and this is a place where I personally very often go, but you cannot access the personal tomb of the Chevalier d’Eon, nor their graveyard. Due to the fact that the Saint-Pancras train station had works ongoing in 1865, the cemetery was closed and when it was reopened in 1877, Baronness Burnett-Coutts requested a memorial to be built for all the people buried there. And in this memorial, the name of the Chevalier d’Eon, French Plenipotentiary Minister is written.

Anyway, guys, as the curtain falls on this episode, we find ourselves entangled in the web of identities and intrigues that is the life of and still today the mysterious gender of the Chevalier d’Éon. Spy, diplomat, soldier, and a figure of gender fluidity long before the term existed, d’Éon defied easy categorisation in an age rigidly defined by norms but incline for changes. The sheer audacity of d’Éon’s life provides not only an arresting narrative but also raises provocative questions about identity, gender, and the masks we all wear on a daily basis. In the grand scheme of things, the Chevalier reminds us that human beings are such complex paintings of contradictions and enigmas. As we ponder this tale of espionage and identity, I invite you to share your reflections, or experiences in the comments below. Does the Chevalier d’Éon offer a glimpse into the shifting paradigms of gender and identity today? Until our next rendezvous with the enigmatic and the inexplicable, keep your minds agile and your perspectives wide. See you next week, fellow travelers of the unknown.