AMAZING LIVES CHEVALIER D'ÉON
After decades of speculation, gossip and even gambling on the matter, in 1810 it was an elderly Londoner called Mrs Cole who finally discovered the truth. For the previous 14 years, this widow had shared an apartment with a French spinster, the Chevalière d'Éon. During the last few of those years, the chevalière – the female equivalent of a chevalier, or knight – was largely bedbound. Both women were in their early eighties; both also lived in poverty and suffered poor health. Now, on 21 May 1810, at the age of 81, the Frenchwoman was dead.
Unsurprisingly, it was Mrs Cole who found the body. Mourning the passing of her friend and flatmate, she solemnly began to prepare the corpse to receive visitors, aiming to provide some dignity in death. As she changed the deceased's clothes, Mrs Cole made a startling revelation: the chevalière was very much in possession of male genitalia.
The French flatmate had told a convincing tale: that they had been born female but – due to social restrictions of thebeen true. This was the final twist in an action-packed life.
