So far Dorothea, daughter of the Duchess of Courland, had consented to an arranged and unsuccessful marriage with the nephew and only heir of Prince Charles Talleyrand. The Prince was the former supporter of Napoleon, and then turned on him and worked for the restoration of Louis XVIII at the Congress of Vienna in 1814-15. Dorothea meanwhile had given birth to two sons and a daughter, mourned the death of the little girl, and gone to Vienna with Talleyrand as his official hostess. The treaties were signed by June 9, and they returned to Paris. Napoleon had escaped from his prison at Elba and was heading back to reclaim his empire. Dorothea had manipulated the situation to eliminate Talleyrand�s trashy Princess from the picture and had taken over as lady of his home permanently. Talleyrand had given his nephew and wife the titles of Duke and Duchess of Dino. Now that she had gotten rid of Talleyrand�s wife she now had to contend with getting rid of her own inconvenient husband.

In 1818, to make sure she wasn�t put on the hook for Edmond�s enormous debts she was granted a separation of goods (a post-nup. agreement?). At some point in 1820 Edmond moved back in with his wife and uncle. On December 29, Dorothea gave birth to Pauline, named after one of her sisters, and then by the following summer Edmond was gone again-for good this time.

There was of course rabid speculation that Talleyrand was the father because she and Edmond had lost any affection they might ever have had for each other. But her mother Anne, who was there at the time, certainly gave no sign of jealousy or anger with her daughter for superseding her in Talleyrand�s longstanding affections. Talleyrand certainly showed much affection for this little girl, but probably because she was growing up in his household. Nevertheless the scarlet woman brand was on Dorothea and that reputation would dog her for the rest of her life.

In 1821, content in the knowledge she was still No 1 in Talleyrand�s passions, Anne died. Mother and daughter had reconciled in recent months, and seeing his incapacitating grief at Anne�s loss, Dorothea knew she could never leave him as long as he lived.

For the next ten years Dorothea spent her summers at Talleyrand�s new house at Valen�ay, and the winters in Paris, doing her best to keep Talleyrand�s star up. The house in Rue St. Florentin was always full of people who often bored her, but who had the ability to sink him. She had her detractors and her fans. The detractors lay at Court in the Tuileries, but at the Palais Royal, home of Orleans branch (which considered itself just as noble and just as regal as the Bourbons thank you very much) they found a much more welcoming atmosphere. It was well known that Talleyrand was just as dangerous as king breaker as he was at king maker. He had the reputation of looking ahead, and if King Louis couldn�t keep up his end there was always cousin Louis-Philippe waiting in the wings.

Dorothea started making some influential, older and wiser male friends. Society naturally tried to start scandals with them and Dorothea didn�t always treat them well or be as good a friend to them as they were to her. By 1821 she was becoming bored with Talleyrand�s small circle and again put herself in depressed isolation. She took one bit of advice and started writing her memoirs, which kept her busy for a year. After that she reluctantly went on a visit to her German estates. She worried incessantly how Talleyrand would manage without her. Before she left in 1824, she started the inexplicable, to Parisian society anyway, process of legally separating from Edmond. To their thinking it was completely unnecessary-everyone knew the marriage was over so why complicate things?

As for her two sons Louis and Alexander; Louis was a plodder of whom she didn�t expect much and the other was his exact opposite. A child of extremes he had his heart on Naval College and passed the entrance exam with flying colours. With Pauline Dorothea was repeating history somewhat. At just six she was too uninteresting for her to concern herself with. It was Talleyrand who gave the child the attention and support she wanted. For the next two years Dorothea remained more or less isolated on Dino. The new king seemed to have no use for Talleyrand and as he held no office and his health was getting worse, she felt no desire to return to Paris.

In 1824 18-year-old Louis graduated from school with some distinction, but she shipped him off to Florence, to the care of an old friend. When he got there he found he�d been summoned back to Paris. Seems Talleyrand had been quietly trolling about for a suitable wife, had found him one and now he was getting married. Louis, as his heir�s eldest son, was in line for a huge inheritance, and Alix Montmorency was a major catch. Dorothea claimed to be looking out for her children�s welfare, but truthfully had known nothing about it either until Talleyrand told her it was a done deal. Louis� social position was precarious and marrying him into one of the oldest, richest Parisian families was a chance never to come again. Talleyrand asked King Charles X to make Louis Duke of Valen�ay, and then gave him the estate and lands that went with it. Dorothea and her new daughter-in-law couldn�t stand each other from the start.

The wedding took place the following February. Talleyrand had organized things so Louis couldn�t have access to his funds. Good thing because his dad was in trouble again. He had paid his debts off when he was made Duke of Dino, just before Pauline�s birth, but three years after attending his son�s wedding he was retired from the army, and despite Dorothea�s generous financial support, everybody he owed in Paris was after him. He decided to head for London. There he got into more trouble and ended up in jail. Eventually, as this was an embarrassment to the French ambassador, Lord Wellington paid his debts from his own pocket. Dorothea eventually paid him back. Then Edmond headed for Brussels, but same thing. Louis would have paid those debts but couldn�t get to the money. Things were finally settled but Edmond had to relocate to Florence, and stay out of trouble. His exile lasted the rest of his lonely, neglected life.

Charles X was an ineffective monarch and things were headed toward another revolution. The Liberals were trying for concessions in the government. In 1829 the King recalled his old friend and devout monarchist, Prince de Polignac, as head of government. Talleyrand smelt his time was nearly at hand. He had no wish to have the Polignac government take against him, but he also wanted to be the �go-to� guy for assistance for the revolutionaries. Enter Dorothea. She began cultivating contacts within the Liberals and inviting them to Dino to discuss affairs. These young upstarts didn�t have much confidence in old and feeble Talleyrand. But as he was starting to feel stronger he decided to use these upstarts. To her politics was something to be played at-she didn�t have to like the players to work for their cause. It was Talleyrand�s and France�s future that depended on the revolution succeeding- again.

It did. On July 29 Charles X fled, and Duke Louis-Philippe of Orleans was invited to accept the crown. Rejoicing at the outcome of the July Revolution, the start of the July Monarchy, and Talleyrand�s triumph too, she returned to Paris in September. Talleyrand had an embarrassment of riches to choose from, but which one? The new king chose for him. The previous ambassador from England, Lord de Rothesay, had been a supporter of the new regime from the first. It was vital that the rest of Europe accept the Orleans� claim, and England�s support would go a long way. And who would be better as the regime�s new ambassador to England, to make this happen, than the most celebrated Prince Talleyrand? At 76 he was not so sure he wanted to go back to a place with all those unhappy memories. Dorothea had no such reservations. By October, 1830 both were in London.

Post Georgian England was in as much of a political and monarchical transition as France, although its throne was not in question. George IV had died the previous June, and his brother William IV was king. Throughout most of the years of the Georgian kings the Tory party had been in power. However with the loss of the colonies during George III�s reign, and the enormous expenses of his successor, the government was deeply in debt. Reform was in the air and William was generally said to be in favour. But the old Duke of Wellington, head of the party, was not in favour. The rest of the aristocracy, still running the show, was becoming a bit more flexible, although that was not immediately apparent to Dorothea�s jaundiced eye.

Socially London was no Paris either The new French ambassador was not exactly trusted by those who had fought with him, and against him, like Wellington. William�s personal opinion of his French counterpart was not too complimentary either. No one was really confident this new monarchy would last any longer than the previous restoration attempts had. Nevertheless Dorothea put on a tremendous show. She had to get the other diplomats on Talleyrand�s side, and that was not going to be easy because the Russian ambassador�s wife, who was the real power here, and had 18 years in residence on her, became her most obdurate rival. The Princess de Lieven liked Dorothea though, and the contest between them was something she, as well as an appreciative Society, came to relish.

Knowing he had to make a good impression Talleyrand still waited until almost the last minute before leaving for St. James to present his credentials to ask Dorothea, off the cuff, to write him a little speech. He did a little editing, gave it to the Court, and thereafter Dorothea wrote all his very important speeches. Dorothea�s own Court debut had to be eased by Wellington. He told the King that although she didn�t have actual ambassador status, or wife of ambassador either, she had been recognized by the Russian royal couple as such in Vienna. Perhaps his Majesty and his queen would do the same? Not that society was anything to get excited about. Drawing-rooms got so crowded, and lasted so long, that people ended up fainting from exhaustion or starvation.

Another problem was the French Foreign Affairs Minister. He and Talleyrand had gotten along in France, but here they had totally different ideas about each other�s roles and authority. Talleyrand would take orders from his King, but no younger upstart minister was going to tell him what to do. The two began working against each other and eventually the minister resigned. Talleyrand had no competition from his replacement. In November Wellington resigned and Dorothea looked forward to a close working relationship with his successor, Lord Grey. But Lord Palmerston, now running the Foreign Office, was a different matter. Although neither of them could stand the guy, Talleyrand made it his business to work successfully with him. Dorothea had taken an instant dislike, and didn�t hesitate to write to people back in France about his numerous defects. Then in 1831 a new interest entered her life. He was eight years younger than she, and at 29 an experienced, if not standout, diplomat. He was recommended to Talleyrand by an old friend, and Talleyrand hired him ostensibly as good company for his niece.

He was �company� all right. Adolphe de Bacourt was her lover for a while, and then their relationship turned to deep friendship, one which lasted for 30 years.

The French embassy in Portland Place was not big enough for their needs and Dorothea�s longstanding lobbying for a bigger house was finally successful. The house in Hanover Square had been Lord Grey�s residence and happily told them it was haunted-knowledge which spooked the servants for months.

They returned to Paris to a fractured society. Although the Orleans were currently on the throne, Louis-Philippe was hardly supported by his pro-Bourbon nobles. Her son Alexander, contrary as always, left the Navy in 1833 and headed off to Florence to spend two years with his dissolute dad-just to annoy his mother.

In 1834 Talleyrand completed his final diplomatic acts of significance. He worked to form the new Kingdom of Belgium, and brought together a treaty to make allies of France, Spain, Portugal and Great Britain. Several years passed as Dorothea dabbled in politics, put up with Princess Lieven as a discontented houseguest, and supported her lover Bacourt, who was now out of a job with Talleyrand. She arranged a less-than-stellar debut for her daughter at Court, which did not immediately succeed in a round of potential husbands, and then set about maneuvering her final act of love for Talleyrand.

By 1838 he was nearly 81, knew he had not much longer to live (anthrax), and didn�t particularly care about his immortal soul. The Vatican had ex-communicated him after discovering his role in the Revolution, and had refused to sanction his marriage as he was a former priest. He had even been Bishop of Autun at one time. Saint and sinner, he had relished every moment of his life. Dorothea wasn�t really bothered about his soul either-it was the embarrassment of him dying without all the accoutrements of full Church rites due someone of his stature that bothered her. The Hanover kings had given way to the newly crowned Queen Victoria in England, and France had peace.

She had started working on the Archbishop of Paris in 1835. In December of that year Princess Talleyrand died, which simplified everything for both of them. During the nest two years the Duke of Orleans married, Dorothea survived a paralytic seizure of some sort and both came to question their relationship with the Church. The Church had come up with a list of conditions under which it would accept Talleyrand back-namely how much he had to recant. He was in no hurry as he wasn�t really sorry for any of it. He finally accepted the conditions and in May offered the Archbishop a draft of his letter of compliance. She rushed it to the Bishop, and just in time. On May 12 he began to fail. Although operated on he was not expected to recover. He said he would sign the final draft between 5 and 6 o�clock on the morning of May 17. Would he even live that long? Nobody prayed harder than Dorothea that he would make his own deadline. When the time came he insisted that she read the whole thing to him so he could make sure he got every last concession he could. As the hour hand of the clock slid quietly to the number six Talleyrand�s only good hand finally signed his final signature, and made his peace.

Later that morning King Louis-Philippe arrived and a heartsick and exhausted Dorothea played hostess one last time. At a little after three-thirty Talleyrand died. Dorothea was just 44. With his death she and Edmond became the new Duke and Duchess of Talleyrand. She lived another 23 years, In 1861, while traveling alone by coach to Sagan she was caught in a horrendous storm. The horses bolted at the lightning crashes. The coach fell over and a battered Dorothea crawled out to lie, soaked and pelted by giant hailstones, for 90 minutes. She caught a high fever, and although it took months of attempts at cures she never recovered. On September 19, 1862 she was united with Talleyrand in that heavenly Court for eternity. Wonder if he figured he�d gone the wrong way?

Anon, gentle readers, and don�t forget to let me know if an anthology book of Court Jester�s better columns from the past 3 years would interest you.

Anon.