Latest / Who Did What Now With Katie Charlwood / 193. Chevaliere d'Eon

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193. Chevaliere d'Eon · Who Did What Now With Katie Charlwood

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Speaker 1: Helly, delicious friends, and welcome to Who Did What Now?
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Speaker 1: The history podcast that is not Your History class with me,
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Speaker 1: your host Katie Charlewood, History Harlotte and reader of books.
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Speaker 1: If you've got a wee bit of deja vu from
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Speaker 1: reading the title, you're not wrong, whether it being Pride
0:32
Speaker 1: months or are pulling some of my favorite LGBTQ people
0:36
Speaker 1: from history from the vault and bringing them back for
0:39
Speaker 1: another go around. We're also going to see the return
0:43
Speaker 1: of the bittisodes this month, just because there were so
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Speaker 1: many things I want to talk about but they just
0:50
Speaker 1: don't fit into a full hour long episode. So the
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Speaker 1: bittysodes are going to return for Pride Month at least,
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Speaker 1: I don't know if they're going to be next month,
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Speaker 1: but definitely for Pride. On top of that news housekeeping news,
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Speaker 1: I guess. So the tour will be starting later this year.
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Speaker 1: And if you want your country, state city, if you
1:14
Speaker 1: want me to view up in your town, go over
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Speaker 2: Okay, So if.
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Speaker 1: You want to do that and vote for me to
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Speaker 1: be places, that would be amazing. And it also helps
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Speaker 1: me organize my tour. So it is ft in two
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Speaker 1: three separate categories. We have USA, we have Canada, and
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Speaker 1: we have Europe. I don't have out with that at
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Speaker 1: the minute. I haven't got Asia planned. I haven't got
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Speaker 1: that far yet because that's even more compond for me
2:00
Speaker 1: to organize. So we are not there yet. If you
2:04
Speaker 1: want to hear more of me, and you want to
2:07
Speaker 1: hear me talk about one of my favorite things ever,
2:09
Speaker 1: which is Poison. Every Wednesday, my new podcast with my
2:14
Speaker 1: dear dear friend Jay is being released Day and Nightshade. Yes,
2:20
Speaker 1: that is the name. Yes, I'm very proud of it. No,
2:23
Speaker 1: I did not come up with the name myself. I
2:26
Speaker 1: asked my other dear friend Paul. I was like, I
2:28
Speaker 1: need a name for this and it's about this and
2:31
Speaker 1: he was like, what about ABCD And I was like, yes,
2:36
Speaker 1: sold ten out of ten. So that means if you're
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Speaker 1: listening to this on day of release, you'll have this
2:42
Speaker 1: episode to listen to, and then tomorrow on day of release,
2:45
Speaker 1: you will have more.
2:47
Speaker 2: To listen to.
2:48
Speaker 1: I am very excited to bring Day and Nightshade to y'all.
2:52
Speaker 1: I don't think you understand just how excited this has been,
2:55
Speaker 1: like several years in the making, like we've been trying
2:58
Speaker 1: to do this and Jay has been flying over from
3:01
Speaker 1: Germany so that we can record together in the same room,
3:06
Speaker 1: and it's it's literally keeping your friendship alive.
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Speaker 2: I think at this point, so to let our friendship diet.
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Speaker 1: But what else I have more?
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Speaker 2: I know I have more news. I feel like I
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Speaker 2: have more news.
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Speaker 1: Goodness there is Oh, I can't tell you that yet actually,
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Speaker 1: But anyway with that, I know.
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Speaker 2: What you're thinking.
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Speaker 1: You're thinking, Katie.
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Speaker 2: Quite your jebbel jabber in fact me, in fact you
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Speaker 2: are well. But first we've got to get our source
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Speaker 2: on Marlena Dietrich, Life and Legend by Stephen buck Herluna
3:41
Speaker 2: Dietrich by Maria Riva, Famous Impostors by Brahms Stoker, Blackmail,
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Speaker 2: Scandal and Revolution by Simon Burrows, The Sound of the
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Speaker 2: Chevalier by Guy Adams. This Case of the Chevalier Deon
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Speaker 2: de Beaumont by John bu can tell far Narsieur Dion
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Speaker 2: is a woman, A tale of political Intrigue and Sexual
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Speaker 2: Masquerade by Gary Kaits, And we have basically unfinished memoirs.
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Speaker 2: We've got unfinished memoirs of the Chevalier Dion. So we've
4:23
Speaker 2: got memoirs, letters, correspondence, a bunch of stuff that got translated,
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Speaker 2: and nevertheless, our favorites history dot com and biography dot com.
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Speaker 2: Io sitting comfortably good, then let's begin. So you may
4:43
Speaker 2: be thinking to yourself, Katie, I know what's pride mones,
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Speaker 2: but are you seriously working through the LGBTQ I A
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Speaker 2: in no particular order. It appeals so motherfuckers. It wasn't
4:53
Speaker 2: my intention to like go through everybody, but there are
4:56
Speaker 2: so many interesting people from history that we don't discuss.
5:00
Speaker 2: And I had a list, and then I noticed that
5:03
Speaker 2: people on my list happened to, you know, correlate with
5:07
Speaker 2: particular letters in the alphabet mafia, and I thought, well
5:12
Speaker 2: why not? So last week we had Isaac Newton, Sir
5:17
Speaker 2: Isaac Newton, who shows you, you know, you really can
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Speaker 2: do a lot and achieve so many things when you're
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Speaker 2: not too busy thinking about shagging. So that was like
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Speaker 2: the most famous asexual in history to my knowledge. I
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Speaker 2: have to look it up. But I think so, And
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Speaker 2: so this week I wanted to talk about the Chevalier Dion.
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Speaker 2: I would like to apologize for the horrific butchering of
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Speaker 2: French that's going to happen throughout this episode. But Dion
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Speaker 2: was a trans spy. It's very complicated, which I will
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Speaker 2: tell you, but they don't transition until much later in life,
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Speaker 2: and it becomes very much complicated situation. But I am
6:03
Speaker 2: going to refer to them as they throughout this story
6:07
Speaker 2: for the most part, just because because they took so
6:12
Speaker 2: long to transition in life. If I were to use
6:15
Speaker 2: he instead of she, and it just feels not only incorrect,
6:21
Speaker 2: but like very misgenderly and very rude. So I'm not
6:25
Speaker 2: going to do that. I'm going to use them because
6:28
Speaker 2: it just feels more respectful. And again, when I apologize
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Speaker 2: for my absolute just awful friends, you're going to hear.
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Speaker 2: So let's start from the beginning. Shat We Deale was
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Speaker 2: born Charles Genevieve Louis Auguste Andre Dell de Beaumond. Because
6:49
Speaker 2: French people have to have all of the names, too
6:51
Speaker 2: many names. Some might say names will not fit on
6:54
Speaker 2: a little box on a birth certificate, but it doesn't
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Speaker 2: matter because they probably didn't have one anyway. So they
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Speaker 2: were born on the fifth of October seventeen twenty eight
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Speaker 2: antner Burgundi in France to Louis Dellon de Beaumont it
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Speaker 2: was a lawyer later a mayor, and Francoise de Charontle
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Speaker 2: so Francoise. She was the daughter of the Commissioner General
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Speaker 2: to the Armies of Wars to Spain and Italy. So
7:21
Speaker 2: you know, they're minor rural nobility. So here's the thing.
7:28
Speaker 2: Wealth is relative, so they're rich to like regular people,
7:34
Speaker 2: so like we would see them as rich, but to
7:37
Speaker 2: the nobility they would be seen as poor. So being noble,
7:43
Speaker 2: they have a fairly decent sort of way of life.
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Speaker 2: And Delle manages to get a pretty good education. They
7:52
Speaker 2: end up studying in Paris. They're pretty good at languages,
7:55
Speaker 2: and it's noted that they're good at memorizing stuff, which
7:59
Speaker 2: seems appropriate because that's study is most of the time,
8:03
Speaker 2: which just memorize and stuff. And so Deone graduates from
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Speaker 2: the College Mazarin and Law, so they've got a law
8:13
Speaker 2: degree in both civil law and canon law. And they
8:17
Speaker 2: do this at the age of twenty one. So they
8:19
Speaker 2: know about church law and they know about just like
8:22
Speaker 2: regular laws, both separation of church and state and ish.
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Speaker 2: So dey Don't gets a job in public service at
8:33
Speaker 2: the Elie cain fletter and writes a book on French
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Speaker 2: government finance, which is all very exciting. So they become
8:47
Speaker 2: secretary to the Intendent of Paris. See I've done it already,
8:51
Speaker 2: I'm still slipping into French. I have the Intendent of Paris,
8:55
Speaker 2: Berdier de Sauvigner, and they work in the fiscal department,
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Speaker 2: and becomes a royal censor at the age of thirty.
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Speaker 2: Basically they got a job as a censor, which is
9:09
Speaker 2: really nothing to do with law technically. So the French
9:16
Speaker 2: government they're like super particular about what books can be published,
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Speaker 2: and they're very intense about it. They have very stringent
9:26
Speaker 2: views about what can and cannot be published. So there's
9:29
Speaker 2: a lot of sensor and going on. So Dion gets
9:33
Speaker 2: this really pushy job working for the French government. They're
9:36
Speaker 2: living in Paris and they're basically reading books for a living,
9:40
Speaker 2: but because of the nature of the job, they're reading books,
9:44
Speaker 2: but they also get like loads of time off to
9:46
Speaker 2: kind of pursue what they want, like they're having a
9:50
Speaker 2: pretty good time of it, to be honest. You see,
9:54
Speaker 2: France is currently ruled by Louis the fifteenth, who was
9:58
Speaker 2: not by any definition of super great king. So before
10:02
Speaker 2: him you had Louis the fourteenth. There's a lot of
10:04
Speaker 2: Louis right, but just too many, some might say, this
10:09
Speaker 2: Sun King, and so he had France as the major
10:13
Speaker 2: leading European power. See, there's a reason that for most
10:18
Speaker 2: of history, I say most of the history, most of
10:20
Speaker 2: modern history, French was the international language of business. It
10:25
Speaker 2: might still be, but like it was traditionally like the
10:30
Speaker 2: language of business because of how prominent France was in
10:35
Speaker 2: sort of expansion and rule and everything else. So the
10:38
Speaker 2: Sun King reigned and ruled, he was loved by the people,
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Speaker 2: France was prosperous, and under Louis the fifteenth it was not.
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Speaker 2: I mean, in his defense, Louis the fifteenth became king
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Speaker 2: at like five years old. So I'm not going to
10:55
Speaker 2: blame them for any original issues because you know, I
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Speaker 2: believe if you don't have the emotion maturity for losing
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Speaker 2: a crayon, you really shouldn't be blamed for government decisions
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Speaker 2: in your name. Just you know, that's no reason to
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Speaker 2: elect people who have the emotional maturity or don't have
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Speaker 2: the emotional maturity to losing a crayon. I'm looking at
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Speaker 2: the British government right now. Really, what you doing, Like seriously,
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Speaker 2: seriously stop putting these agents in charge? Like what's wrong
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Speaker 2: with you anyway? Spoiler alert. By the end of Louis
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Speaker 2: the fifteenth th rating sort of seventeen seventies, France has
11:32
Speaker 2: lost its power, its territories, its military is weak to
11:37
Speaker 2: say the least, and the treasury is considerably drained. Effectively,
11:44
Speaker 2: there's a cost of loving crisis going on, and the
11:47
Speaker 2: country is prime for revolution. Now let's get back to
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Speaker 2: the seventeen fifties for a wee bit. So France is
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Speaker 2: trying to expand and regain its glory and power, and
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Speaker 2: Louis the fifteens grubbyy hands reaching out for Poland. We
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Speaker 2: see Polish nobles would vote in a king and I've
12:10
Speaker 2: been doing this for a long time, but it had
12:13
Speaker 2: been taken by the Saxons in the late seventeenth century.
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Speaker 2: Newpoland at this point is absolutely massive, and all the
12:21
Speaker 2: neighboring states are eyeing it up. And a bunch of nobles.
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Speaker 2: They want Louis's cousin, Prince de Conti, to be king.
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Speaker 2: That being said, Louis cannot support this officially in any
12:36
Speaker 2: capacity because France is allied with Saxony and so they
12:42
Speaker 2: can rely on each other awey bit, and so officially
12:46
Speaker 2: he's like supporting Saxony, but unofficially the king wants his
12:51
Speaker 2: cousin in, so he wants to eat his cake and
12:54
Speaker 2: have it too low. So he sets up the Secretora,
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Speaker 2: which is the King's secret a spy network that answers
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Speaker 2: directly to him. So the spies that he ends up collecting,
13:10
Speaker 2: they already have sort of positions or high ranking positions,
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Speaker 2: like within government, so they're going to basically work for him,
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Speaker 2: but use their official cover as well, get their official
13:24
Speaker 2: job as a cover. So it starts small, and then
13:28
Speaker 2: by the time Louis actually dies, there's like twenty fellas
13:31
Speaker 2: in this, you know, twenty people all together. So, as
13:36
Speaker 2: I said, the spies are already in like relatively prominent positions,
13:40
Speaker 2: so a lot of the time they would receive orders
13:42
Speaker 2: from like the government or from the ministers, and this
13:47
Speaker 2: would directly contradict orders from the king. So it's it's
13:53
Speaker 2: kind of complicated, So you're kind of walking a very
13:56
Speaker 2: fine light. And this is going to issues because like
14:01
Speaker 2: you've got these spies who are in these positions of
14:03
Speaker 2: power and they're underminding government authority, so for them, the
14:08
Speaker 2: rules don't really apply. And it kind of also shows
14:11
Speaker 2: that the king doesn't really have as much power or
14:15
Speaker 2: authority as he did or he should have or wants
14:20
Speaker 2: to have. So basically, in order to make the Polish
14:26
Speaker 2: plan happen, they had to strengthen their bonds with Russia,
14:32
Speaker 2: and so the King sins Chevalier Andrew Peter McKenzie Douglas.
14:40
Speaker 2: You might be thinking that doesn't sound like the frenchiest
14:42
Speaker 2: of names, and you would be correct, because he is
14:45
Speaker 2: a Scottish Jacobite working in France. It's not that complicated.
14:51
Speaker 2: Lows of Scottish people ended up working in France, Like
14:53
Speaker 2: they all just kind of went off there and they
14:56
Speaker 2: all learned French because why not, they were already multi
14:59
Speaker 2: lingu at this point, may as well add another one
15:01
Speaker 2: to the list. So he goes off and dayone accompanies him.
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Speaker 2: Now the official excuse slash reason is to convince Russia
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Speaker 2: not to ally with England and the war that's on
15:15
Speaker 2: the horizon. The unofficial is to promote content. So the
15:24
Speaker 2: plan is to go in and sort of bribe a
15:27
Speaker 2: bunch of officials to effectively work together to get Conte promoted,
15:33
Speaker 2: and that's the plan. So effectively, there's this war that's
15:40
Speaker 2: on the horizon and Prussia because like this is before
15:46
Speaker 2: Germany is Germany. It's got all these different states, so
15:49
Speaker 2: you've got the Canover, Prussia, Saxony, et cetera. So Prussia
15:53
Speaker 2: ends up allying with England and it invades Saxony, who
15:58
Speaker 2: is allied with France, and it basically starts the Seven Years' War.
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Speaker 2: So on one side context you have England, Hanover, Prussia, Portugal,
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Speaker 2: Hesse Castle Brunswick and yeah, that's one side. And on
16:17
Speaker 2: the other side you have France, Austria, Saxony, Hesse, Darmstrat, Spain,
16:22
Speaker 2: and Sweden. So Russia is on the side of France
16:30
Speaker 2: like initially and then and then it's not, I'll explain.
16:36
Speaker 2: So Dale ends up being like an official secretary to
16:41
Speaker 2: the embassy in Saint Petersburg, and you know they have
16:48
Speaker 2: to travel like between Saint Petersburg and Versailles quite regularly
16:54
Speaker 2: on horseback. Because you know you've got o ryanair. Dale's there.
16:57
Speaker 2: It's not a quite cops cup Andy jump. Nope. So
17:02
Speaker 2: Empress Elizabeth of Russia and Louis the fifteenth are basically
17:07
Speaker 2: pen pals, and they're trying to build relations, and so
17:11
Speaker 2: they're sending these letters back and forth, and they're hidden
17:14
Speaker 2: in a secret compartment in Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws,
17:19
Speaker 2: which is just like we're sneakly heading in a secret
17:23
Speaker 2: compartment in his book, like spy stuff. And this works
17:28
Speaker 2: because this gets the Empress to sign a treaty with
17:31
Speaker 2: France supporting it and its allies against Prussia. So when
17:36
Speaker 2: the Empress like signs this treaty, Dale rushes back to
17:40
Speaker 2: France like so fast, like they are just hell for leather.
17:44
Speaker 2: Did they end up breaking their leg? Don't ask me
17:48
Speaker 2: how exactly they break their leg. Did they fall off
17:51
Speaker 2: a horse, Did they trip out of a carriage where
17:54
Speaker 2: they attacked by some angry geese. We don't know. All
17:58
Speaker 2: we know is they broke their leg. So Dale is
18:05
Speaker 2: recognized as an expert on Russian politics, which is handy
18:08
Speaker 2: when the Empress dies in seventeen sixty two and the
18:13
Speaker 2: king literally goes to them and asks like what to
18:16
Speaker 2: do politically? Like that shows you how revered Dale is
18:22
Speaker 2: in this position at this point. Now, now this is
18:25
Speaker 2: also handy because after the Empress Elizabeth's death, Russia ends
18:31
Speaker 2: up switching sides and joins allies with England in Prussia
18:36
Speaker 2: instead of France. Dale does end up fighting in the
18:42
Speaker 2: Seven Years' War as a captain of the dragoons, which
18:46
Speaker 2: are basically like the fancy soldiers. And the thing about
18:49
Speaker 2: being a dragoon is you are dragoon for life. Like
18:53
Speaker 2: that is, It's just a thing. And luckily Dale wasn't
18:59
Speaker 2: at it for very long, and because you see, Prussia
19:03
Speaker 2: was doing very well for itself. However, France was not.
19:08
Speaker 2: It was losing battles, he was losing territory. And this
19:12
Speaker 2: leads to a few good prominent people being exiled and banished, banished.
19:21
Speaker 2: There's a movie where someone goes banished, and that's in
19:24
Speaker 2: my head every time mus say banished. So dy on,
19:29
Speaker 2: like their superiors are exiled, dayon, somehow keeps on landing
19:34
Speaker 2: and shit and coming out smelling roses. They end up
19:37
Speaker 2: with a promotion. They're appointed the secretary to the Duke
19:40
Speaker 2: de Nivine, who just happens to be broken peace with England. Now,
19:47
Speaker 2: the Duke points out, like how hard of a worker
19:51
Speaker 2: Dale is, Like they start writing about how they are
19:54
Speaker 2: working from like morning tonight. They're seriously, they're taking the job.
19:58
Speaker 2: They're basically not fucking around. Right. They land in England
20:02
Speaker 2: in September and by November they have this tree knocked
20:06
Speaker 2: out and this basically ends the Seven Years' war. Be
20:10
Speaker 2: is like, they've got this tree. However, the Duke himself
20:16
Speaker 2: bloody hates England and so they recommend that Dale is
20:20
Speaker 2: left in charge until a new ambassador can be put there.
20:23
Speaker 2: So they're like, let me get the heck at a dodge.
20:25
Speaker 2: I don't want to be here, and let's leave Dale
20:28
Speaker 2: in charge because they know the people, they know what
20:30
Speaker 2: they're doing, and let's get to it. And so they
20:34
Speaker 2: end up being put in as this interim ambassador and
20:39
Speaker 2: they have effectively unlimited ambassadorial power for a year, like
20:47
Speaker 2: it takes a year to get in an ambassador sent there,
20:49
Speaker 2: and so they have all this power and it's kind
20:53
Speaker 2: of unchecked, like they kind of have a cart Bland
20:56
Speaker 2: to do whatever the fuck they like. Meanwhile, Conti the
21:02
Speaker 2: Prince who you know, Louis was trying to make king
21:05
Speaker 2: of Poland attempts a coup, which which was a terrible,
21:11
Speaker 2: terrible idea, and Louis just like, nah, pal, you're right.
21:17
Speaker 2: So the King's Secret they don't do what they will
21:20
Speaker 2: set out to do, which was put Conti on the
21:22
Speaker 2: Polish throne. Instead, the King's Secret get moved to a
21:28
Speaker 2: new plan, which is, I should you not invade England.
21:35
Speaker 2: They've just signed a damn peace treaty and already they're like,
21:37
Speaker 2: this is a good idea. So they end up sending
21:41
Speaker 2: a military officer to go work until day on and
21:43
Speaker 2: like map out the coast and figure out the best
21:46
Speaker 2: points to invade from. And the idea is Dale will
21:50
Speaker 2: right back in like super secret spy code and bribe
21:53
Speaker 2: a bunch of people like they did in Russia to
21:56
Speaker 2: basically do all this, And Louis the fifteenth literally writes
22:05
Speaker 2: this down. I feel like they're misunderstanding the concept of
22:09
Speaker 2: cloak and dagger here. It's not the smartest of choices
22:13
Speaker 2: to write down, you know, your super secret invasion plans
22:18
Speaker 2: to the country that you've signed a treaty with. So
22:22
Speaker 2: Dion has an actual document from Louis the fifteenth, like,
22:27
Speaker 2: you can spy for me, the king of France, so
22:30
Speaker 2: that France can invade England, the country with which we
22:33
Speaker 2: have signed a treaty, and you are staying in So again,
22:40
Speaker 2: at this point there's two contradictory orders, Like Dion is
22:44
Speaker 2: supposed to be building alliances and sort of bonds with
22:49
Speaker 2: England as a French ambassador Ish and so there's no ambassador,
22:57
Speaker 2: so they're supposed to be doing all of this sneaky,
22:59
Speaker 2: sneak Spanish it in ordered to aid the French invasion
23:04
Speaker 2: of England. So at this point, Dion goes back to
23:09
Speaker 2: Paris to receive the Cross of Saint Louis. It's a
23:14
Speaker 2: metal given by the king to those who showed unusual
23:17
Speaker 2: or exemplary heroism and war. So effectively they get, you know,
23:22
Speaker 2: a medal for being involved in the Seven Years' War.
23:26
Speaker 2: Like on the side, it's secretly for being like doing
23:29
Speaker 2: the Spi shit, but like officially it's out there for
23:34
Speaker 2: doing general like dragoon stuff. And this is where they
23:39
Speaker 2: are named the Chevalier Deale. So chevalier basically means a knight.
23:46
Speaker 2: But yeah, so Deon goes back to London with the
23:48
Speaker 2: shiny new medal, and they're negotiating with England while working
23:53
Speaker 2: against England and writing about French and British political affairs.
23:58
Speaker 2: And they're also socializing a lot in England, doling out wine,
24:03
Speaker 2: gifting lots hymnots of wine, which is which is, which
24:09
Speaker 2: is an interesting thing to do, considering France is not
24:11
Speaker 2: doing well financially and Dion is just spending money on wine.
24:16
Speaker 2: The French Foreign Minister ends up criticizing Dion, saying they're
24:19
Speaker 2: just spending too much money, and Deon's just like, how
24:24
Speaker 2: rude of you to treat me like this. Finally, an
24:28
Speaker 2: ambassador is being sent to England and Dion finds out
24:32
Speaker 2: that they're getting demoted back into secretary, which results in
24:37
Speaker 2: Deon sending some very angry letters back to France and
24:42
Speaker 2: they're just like causing such a stink that members of
24:46
Speaker 2: the Secret, like their like comrades are going just like,
24:50
Speaker 2: don't cause a scene, you know, like don't make don't
24:54
Speaker 2: make a big fuss about this, and Deon is like,
24:57
Speaker 2: fuck this for a game of soldiers, and they double down.
25:02
Speaker 2: They're demoted. They are members of the King's Secret, but
25:05
Speaker 2: they are very important people. Like they're the rules don't
25:10
Speaker 2: apply or remember. So they're so used to having honor
25:14
Speaker 2: and power and then to have this taken from them.
25:16
Speaker 2: They're just simply not happy about this situation. So Deon
25:22
Speaker 2: is stirring the pot and very much causing a scene.
25:29
Speaker 2: But yeah, like again, members of the Secret, the King's Secret,
25:33
Speaker 2: like they go against the foreign minister so much that
25:38
Speaker 2: this is very much part of the power for them.
25:42
Speaker 2: So when the new ambassador, Gershet, when he arrives, Dion
25:47
Speaker 2: just refuses to leave, going only the King appointed me,
25:50
Speaker 2: Only the King can remove me. And then the King
25:53
Speaker 2: goes You're removed, like he agrees with his ministers and
25:59
Speaker 2: his public being like, Dion, get the fuck out of
26:02
Speaker 2: their mate, what are you doing? So the government sides
26:07
Speaker 2: with the king, the King's side to the government and
26:10
Speaker 2: they try to recall Dion, and Dion is like, hm, no,
26:18
Speaker 2: I see. Dion is really mad because Gershe is notoriously mediocre.
26:22
Speaker 2: So they don't understand why this mediocre, incompetent person is
26:26
Speaker 2: being put in charge. And so Louis, under like advice
26:37
Speaker 2: from the head of the secret, is planning to like
26:39
Speaker 2: officially strip Dion of titles. But like continue paying them
26:43
Speaker 2: on the slide to stay in London as a spy.
26:48
Speaker 2: But Dion doesn't know this, isn't aware of this plan
26:52
Speaker 2: and basically wants to like show them their hand. And
26:58
Speaker 2: so seventeen sixty four they publish Secrets, not the King secret,
27:04
Speaker 2: but it's like a two hundred page document with correspondence
27:07
Speaker 2: and other info and it's basically this massive scandal. So
27:12
Speaker 2: the French government charge day On with libel and they
27:17
Speaker 2: try to like extradute them, like they try and like
27:22
Speaker 2: get them, but England, England just goes, no, he hasn't
27:33
Speaker 2: broken any laws, he hasn't done anything, so like we're
27:36
Speaker 2: not getting rid of them, Like that's not happening because
27:40
Speaker 2: remember Deon still has the documents, the official documents signed
27:48
Speaker 2: by the King of France basically saying spy for me
27:51
Speaker 2: in England, so we can invade them, and the King
27:53
Speaker 2: wants that back. Now don hasn't like produced that yet,
27:59
Speaker 2: but they know that they can. So while Dione is
28:07
Speaker 2: charged with libel, there is straight up a plan to
28:11
Speaker 2: kidnap him. And this guy comes forward and says that
28:14
Speaker 2: one of Girlsh's men, that he is one of Girl
28:17
Speaker 2: She's men, and that he's part of this plot to
28:19
Speaker 2: kill Daon by the Foreign Minister and Gerlshet. So the
28:25
Speaker 2: plan is to drug them, kidnap them, and then murder them.
28:29
Speaker 2: Like that is the plan. It is very messy because
28:33
Speaker 2: this comes forward and everybody is just shamed. So basically
28:39
Speaker 2: Deon gets this pretty sweet deal where they get a
28:41
Speaker 2: pension from the King of France where they also get
28:45
Speaker 2: to like secretly spy for France in England. But the
28:48
Speaker 2: deal is they cannot return to France and so they're
28:53
Speaker 2: kind of banished but with pity, and so they stay
29:00
Speaker 2: in England this day in London, and it's not the
29:03
Speaker 2: most exciting of times for them.
29:07
Speaker 3: Meanwhile, and paid exit the day on publish is thirteen
29:14
Speaker 3: volumes thirteen thirteen volumes on government, finance, policy and taxation.
29:21
Speaker 2: Clearly they had a lot of time in their hands.
29:23
Speaker 2: They also amassed a collection of like over six thousand books.
29:28
Speaker 2: Like I like reading too, but I feel like six
29:30
Speaker 2: thousand feels a bit excessive, Like could I read six
29:34
Speaker 2: thousand books? Maybe it does feel like a bit much.
29:37
Speaker 2: I mean I could, I could? I No, I don't
29:42
Speaker 2: have time so not right now anyway. So by the
29:45
Speaker 2: time seventeen seventy rolls around the new sort of ambassador,
29:50
Speaker 2: French ambassador in England. He is convinced that Dale is
29:55
Speaker 2: a lady and they bring this like to the King.
29:58
Speaker 2: So you've got Horace Walpole, who's England's notorious gossip, who
30:03
Speaker 2: has hung out with Dane a couple of times. They've
30:05
Speaker 2: drank wine and whatever. Like they and their associates are like, yeah,
30:10
Speaker 2: Dyon's a chick, we're talking about. So how this rumor started?
30:18
Speaker 2: We're not entirely sure. However, there is a theory that
30:22
Speaker 2: Dale started it themselves. That being said, it's not easy
30:29
Speaker 2: for Dyon when this rumor goes around, because it swirls
30:32
Speaker 2: and turns out so much that bankers and businessmen and
30:37
Speaker 2: like everyone in between are literally betting on which gender
30:41
Speaker 2: Dion is, and it gets so dangerous that Dion is
30:45
Speaker 2: like mobbed in the street with people trying to figure
30:47
Speaker 2: out like grab their clothes and figure out, like you
30:50
Speaker 2: know what genitals they have, that they are not safe
30:55
Speaker 2: in London. And one day they just fucking disappear and
30:59
Speaker 2: they're friends are convinced they've been kidnapped or killed. They
31:05
Speaker 2: do return six weeks later, they're just like, oh, I
31:07
Speaker 2: was in Germany. I went to Germany for a bit
31:10
Speaker 2: because I was worried for my safety, and then I
31:13
Speaker 2: heard that you'll thought I was missing, so I came back.
31:16
Speaker 2: And they do admit they had considered going to Ireland,
31:20
Speaker 2: the most tolerant of states, and they had considered going
31:23
Speaker 2: to Ireland because nobody knew them there, but they could
31:26
Speaker 2: have gotten away with it. So London is is just
31:31
Speaker 2: a bit much by the time they come back and
31:33
Speaker 2: they are sort of they're closeted at home. They say
31:39
Speaker 2: they're closeted at home because at this point they're still
31:42
Speaker 2: wearing their dragoon uniform, like that's what they wear because
31:45
Speaker 2: that's again, you're appointed for life if you're a dragoon.
31:49
Speaker 2: So they're constantly walking around like this, and people are
31:52
Speaker 2: like man handling them to try and find out, you know,
31:56
Speaker 2: is there a payer avee that's gone on down there,
31:59
Speaker 2: And so most of the time they just kind of
32:02
Speaker 2: shut in and don't leave the house. And then one
32:04
Speaker 2: of their pals offers to let them stay in their country,
32:06
Speaker 2: stay for a couple of months, and they accept because
32:09
Speaker 2: obviously it's safer for them. Now, the King's advisors send
32:17
Speaker 2: a secretary over to England to find out Deyon's gender,
32:24
Speaker 2: to which they say, yes, yes, Dayon is definitely a woman.
32:27
Speaker 2: I assessed the situation. I inspected them, and stay saw
32:34
Speaker 2: that they were a woman, and the King of France
32:36
Speaker 2: is like okay. Meanwhile, with all this going on, Dyon
32:45
Speaker 2: is asking for the exile to be lifted, but of
32:52
Speaker 2: course they want to keep Dayon in England for spy
32:55
Speaker 2: work and also because like, being in France is going
32:58
Speaker 2: to cause some issues because everyone knows who they are.
33:02
Speaker 2: Luckily every day On though. In seventeen fifty four, King
33:06
Speaker 2: Louis the fifteenth dies and the twenty year old Larry
33:09
Speaker 2: the sixteenth is now King of France. So Louis the
33:13
Speaker 2: sixteenth is told about the king's secret and he's like,
33:16
Speaker 2: what the fuck, shut it down? What is this? Like
33:21
Speaker 2: he is of the opinion that, like the king shouldn't
33:24
Speaker 2: be doing this weird coak and dagger shit, and so
33:26
Speaker 2: he's like no, no, no, no, no no, like done. Now.
33:30
Speaker 2: Louis is also informed that Dale is woman, and Louy's like, cool,
33:36
Speaker 2: let's give them protection, a pension, remove the eggs al
33:40
Speaker 2: but also in exchange for those documents for invading England
33:42
Speaker 2: because I feel like we shouldn't have those out and
33:44
Speaker 2: about you know what I mean, like maybe let's not
33:47
Speaker 2: have that happening, and and the negotiation it takes a while.
33:54
Speaker 2: It takes a while because there are some very strong
33:56
Speaker 2: personalities in this and they have they have again very
34:02
Speaker 2: strong opinions. See day On once it known that gershe
34:06
Speaker 2: tried to kill them. And they also want to be
34:09
Speaker 2: fully recognized, like officially recognized as a woman. And the
34:13
Speaker 2: King is like, fine, I guess, but you have to
34:17
Speaker 2: live as a woman, so like you have to wear
34:22
Speaker 2: women's clothing, not men's clothing, because like in France as well,
34:25
Speaker 2: at this point, it was illegal for women to wear trousers.
34:29
Speaker 2: So there was a whole situation that being said, dressing
34:33
Speaker 2: as a man when you were a woman. It wasn't
34:38
Speaker 2: seen as unusual because it happened like quite a few times,
34:42
Speaker 2: like it was a known like thing that happened, so
34:45
Speaker 2: people weren't too surprised by it. So Dayon is like, Okay,
34:51
Speaker 2: if I'm wearing women's clothing, then I should be a
34:55
Speaker 2: like to wear like my dragoon uniform because like I've
34:57
Speaker 2: always worn it. And also women's clothing is really uncomfortable,
35:03
Speaker 2: and they're just kind of going back and forth over this,
35:06
Speaker 2: and eventually Dalne is like, fine, but you're going to
35:09
Speaker 2: pay for high new wardrobe and the King's like, grand,
35:13
Speaker 2: let's do this. So meanwhile in England, people are betting
35:18
Speaker 2: so much on gender, right on the gender of Dale,
35:23
Speaker 2: and it gets to a point where like judges, a judge,
35:27
Speaker 2: an official judge declares it illegal to bet on someone's gender,
35:32
Speaker 2: and I think it might still be illegal today, but
35:33
Speaker 2: like they make it illegal, so you can't do that.
35:38
Speaker 2: So by seventeen seventy seven, so like three years after
35:41
Speaker 2: Louis becomes Kingdon manages to leave England for France and
35:47
Speaker 2: they're still in uniform and again and you've got these
35:50
Speaker 2: gender dressing laws and so they're told they have to
35:54
Speaker 2: change or get arrested. So like initially they end up
35:58
Speaker 2: in this convent and they're like change into men's clothes
36:00
Speaker 2: in the m No. So the end of gotting to
36:04
Speaker 2: a monastery and staying in this sort of areel where
36:08
Speaker 2: like the female relatives of the monks would stay if
36:12
Speaker 2: they were visiting. But again they're still in their fucking uniform.
36:17
Speaker 2: Now there's this whole thing about women's clothing and dayon
36:20
Speaker 2: isn't super into this concept of femininity because like, it's
36:26
Speaker 2: not just about the clothes. It's about control, it's about
36:31
Speaker 2: being a woman, is not about the clothes you wear.
36:34
Speaker 2: Like we always talk about breaking down gender roles, and
36:36
Speaker 2: then this is a thing about turfs. Right of fucking
36:38
Speaker 2: hate turfs, and I'll shout it from the rooftops, right,
36:41
Speaker 2: like women have fought for years to not be conditioned
36:45
Speaker 2: and forced into these predetermined gender roles. And then you
36:50
Speaker 2: get angry for trans women not like falling within traditional
36:56
Speaker 2: gender roles, like for not adhering to these pretend made
37:01
Speaker 2: up rules, like fuck this for a game of soldiers,
37:06
Speaker 2: Like what the fuck are you talking about? It's stupid.
37:08
Speaker 2: It's just stupid, you know what. I think? Now is
37:13
Speaker 2: a good time to go for a message from our sponsors.
37:17
Speaker 2: Good luck and we are back. So where we're we?
37:27
Speaker 2: That's right, ranting about women's clothing. So basically Dale is
37:32
Speaker 2: fully aware that it's not the clothing itself, but it's
37:35
Speaker 2: what the clothing represents, because clothing represents character, and in
37:40
Speaker 2: the eyes of the French law, the French government and
37:43
Speaker 2: sort of the general populace. By forcing female regalia onto dale,
37:50
Speaker 2: it would in a way subdue them, Like that is
37:53
Speaker 2: the point. It's subdue the person. It is to make
37:56
Speaker 2: them less vocal. It's to reduce their power. And female clothing,
38:03
Speaker 2: especially typical female attire, like throughout history, is done in
38:07
Speaker 2: such a way to restrict movement, like courset. I mean,
38:13
Speaker 2: of course it was shapewear, so like that's it much.
38:15
Speaker 2: But like the giant hoop skirts or like wiggle skirts
38:20
Speaker 2: when they came in, like throughout history, you have there's
38:24
Speaker 2: not normally course its corsets are underwear, like it's a
38:26
Speaker 2: support device, but like there were so many items of
38:29
Speaker 2: clothing that exist. Like the reason the reticule became like
38:35
Speaker 2: that way tiny teeny tiny handbag situation was because pockets
38:40
Speaker 2: were removed from women's clothing. And one of the reasons
38:43
Speaker 2: pockets were removed from women's clothing is because of the
38:46
Speaker 2: French Revolution. So they were worried that people would have
38:50
Speaker 2: pamphlets and because they would have these massive sort of
38:53
Speaker 2: pockets underneath their skirts, and they didn't want women carrying pamphlets,
39:00
Speaker 2: you know, and it's a whole situation anyway, the idea
39:04
Speaker 2: of feminine clothing is that it's going to make deal docile,
39:09
Speaker 2: and like not everyone is like happy with this idea
39:14
Speaker 2: of forcing them into women's clothing even though they're identifying
39:18
Speaker 2: as a woman. So the dragoons are well mad about it,
39:22
Speaker 2: because as far as they're concerned, I mean, they're not
39:25
Speaker 2: pushing for female soldiers by any stretch of the imagination,
39:28
Speaker 2: but as far as they're concerned, dragoons are like, it's
39:35
Speaker 2: a lifetime appointment. You are a dragoon for life, and
39:39
Speaker 2: so they're well mad about it because you're basically seeing
39:43
Speaker 2: that you can take that from them even though it's
39:44
Speaker 2: supposed to be a lifetime thing, like it's an issue.
39:48
Speaker 2: And then you've got women who are fighting for this
39:50
Speaker 2: because they're going, well, you shouldn't force them into this,
39:54
Speaker 2: because just because women are, you know, whatever, they shouldn't
39:58
Speaker 2: be pushed into wearing sku and like there's this whole
40:01
Speaker 2: movement behind it. Eventually, Dale concedes and Marie Antoinette's wardrobe
40:10
Speaker 2: director is charged with giving them their attire and the
40:15
Speaker 2: king is paying for it, because of course, of course
40:21
Speaker 2: they do, because the king is paying for it. Because
40:24
Speaker 2: Dione's like, you're paying me and so they're getting the
40:26
Speaker 2: best dresser in the fucking country, like Marie Antoinette's personal wardrobe,
40:32
Speaker 2: Like this is like all going to be handmade, it's
40:36
Speaker 2: going to be the best of stuff. And the government,
40:40
Speaker 2: i mean effectively they're trying to restrict Dale's access to
40:44
Speaker 2: the public's fear, they're trying to reduce their power. But
40:48
Speaker 2: don is not going to go away like slowly, Like
40:50
Speaker 2: that's not happening. So at the age of forty nine,
40:56
Speaker 2: Dale starts wearing female attire. In seventeen seventy seven, they
41:03
Speaker 2: are presented to court and they like and they're like
41:06
Speaker 2: hanging out with Marie Antoinette, like they're very accepted by Louis,
41:13
Speaker 2: Like they're they're doing pretty well for themselves. They're kind
41:16
Speaker 2: of generally accepted in court and and it sort of
41:22
Speaker 2: rebuilds their public standing because remember they were a disgraced
41:26
Speaker 2: spy and now they were French heroin, like they've moved
41:29
Speaker 2: through the ranks. And they also change it from Chevalier
41:34
Speaker 2: to Chevalier, so Chevalier de Leon Dion, sorry, Chevalier Dion,
41:42
Speaker 2: which is hed upout this it's basically you could have
41:45
Speaker 2: been Chevalier. It was already a title, but it would
41:48
Speaker 2: be like the wife of a chevalier, you know. So
41:52
Speaker 2: the nobility's opinion of them, it raises, and they be
41:54
Speaker 2: kind of become like, you know, hot stuff, and they're
41:59
Speaker 2: getting invited to like parties. They're kind of going around.
42:02
Speaker 2: They're going to soirees. The newspapers are writing about them,
42:06
Speaker 2: like if there's a gossip column, they're in it, you
42:08
Speaker 2: know what I mean. The pamphlets, they're in the pamphlets.
42:12
Speaker 2: So what's interesting about them is like they don't change
42:16
Speaker 2: their mannerisms to conform to the concept of femininity in womanhood.
42:20
Speaker 2: So they're fencing at parties, they're like speaking openly, they're
42:24
Speaker 2: giving opinions, and they poured coffee for the ladies. Now
42:28
Speaker 2: here's the thing. Men are supposed to pour the coffee.
42:31
Speaker 2: Women are not supposed to pour their own coffee. It's
42:33
Speaker 2: a role in Rococo Frans. Don't judge me. I'm just
42:36
Speaker 2: telling you how it is. But they're like, I'm going
42:39
Speaker 2: to pour my coffee. I'm not going to like force
42:42
Speaker 2: myself into this traditional feminine role regardless of whether I'm
42:47
Speaker 2: a woman or not. Like it doesn't matter because gender
42:51
Speaker 2: roles are bullshit. So Dale actually ends up meeting Benjamin Franklin,
42:57
Speaker 2: who's get support for the American War of Independence. So
43:00
Speaker 2: they're like dining together, they're hanging out, and Dale wants
43:04
Speaker 2: to help out in the war, like they want to
43:06
Speaker 2: be like, I want to support you, I want to
43:08
Speaker 2: help you fight England, like Benny, but buddy, like, let's
43:11
Speaker 2: get to this. And so they go to the government
43:14
Speaker 2: and the Government's like, no, can you join a nunneray instead, Like,
43:21
Speaker 2: because they're so openly out there and doing this, they
43:24
Speaker 2: really want to start pushing them under the rug, and
43:27
Speaker 2: so they are like trying to force them to go
43:30
Speaker 2: to a nunnery. And Dale does consider this, like they
43:34
Speaker 2: visit some convents, but they don't really vibe with the
43:37
Speaker 2: whole thing because there's not a lot to do in
43:39
Speaker 2: a nunnery, Like it's boring, Like they pray, maybe read
43:45
Speaker 2: a Bible or two, like and then that's it. So
43:50
Speaker 2: when they're like convincing, like fucking convince, Dale writes to
43:56
Speaker 2: everybody they know to try and convince them to let
43:59
Speaker 2: them join and aid in the War of Independence, like
44:03
Speaker 2: they are trying. Eventually everyone's like just go back to
44:10
Speaker 2: Burgunday the King's like, come on, like, go back to Burgundy,
44:14
Speaker 2: chill out a wee bit, have some time to yourself.
44:19
Speaker 2: And I'd like to imagine that Deale like just puts
44:24
Speaker 2: a hand up to their forehead as if they're about
44:26
Speaker 2: to faint, and it's like I am to ail if
44:29
Speaker 2: I'm being bored, like they're just I am too siddentally,
44:34
Speaker 2: basically the ideas that they've been sitting about and doing
44:36
Speaker 2: nothing for so long that like they're just too sick
44:40
Speaker 2: to go, like I'm wasting away, Like they just have
44:43
Speaker 2: nothing else to do, so they're too ill to like
44:45
Speaker 2: travel to Burgundy. And it gets to the point where
44:50
Speaker 2: Louis is just so pissed off he has Deale arrested
44:56
Speaker 2: and imprisoned for nineteen days. So Dale compares this to
45:02
Speaker 2: Joan of Arcarc. It's like, oh, I am so patrioted,
45:06
Speaker 2: like Joan of Arc, who was also punished for wanting
45:09
Speaker 2: to fight in a war and wearing men's clothing, which
45:13
Speaker 2: is which is true, which is actually that's actually why
45:15
Speaker 2: Joan of Arc was arrested. She was arrested because she
45:20
Speaker 2: was wearing men's clothing, not for like witchcraft, like they
45:23
Speaker 2: were like they caught her on it, and they did
45:25
Speaker 2: it sneakily. It was a sneaky thing they did. But
45:27
Speaker 2: that's now you're not there. So after nineteen days, you know,
45:33
Speaker 2: Dale comes out and is like, fine, I will go
45:37
Speaker 2: to Burgunday and I won't wear trousers. And so they
45:41
Speaker 2: go and stay with their mum and they're there in
45:44
Speaker 2: Burgunday with their mum for the next six years. Now.
45:48
Speaker 2: I don't know how their mom felt about the scenario,
45:50
Speaker 2: but I feel like it was not a positive experience
45:52
Speaker 2: for anybody, to be honest. So they do try and
45:58
Speaker 2: leave for England. Daon's like, hey, let me get passage
46:02
Speaker 2: to England because like, I'm just chilling here in Burgundy
46:05
Speaker 2: and I have got nothing to do, and like it
46:07
Speaker 2: would just be a fun little trip for me. And
46:10
Speaker 2: France is like, no, you did try and sell our
46:16
Speaker 2: secrets to them, and I feel like, probably not the
46:19
Speaker 2: best idea because they don't know if they've amassed extra
46:22
Speaker 2: spy stuff, like they don't know what's happening. They don't
46:25
Speaker 2: want to run that risk. And so seventeen eighty five, though,
46:31
Speaker 2: they do end up going and they go ahead to
46:33
Speaker 2: England and there for a couple of years, four issues,
46:36
Speaker 2: I think, and then Dale goes back to France and
46:42
Speaker 2: when they get there, they are in full support of
46:45
Speaker 2: the French Revolution, even though they themselves are members of
46:49
Speaker 2: the aristocracy I mean, I mean, in fairness, they had
46:53
Speaker 2: been dealt a shift hand by the government and they
46:57
Speaker 2: just kind of really saw like power to the people
47:00
Speaker 2: was like this really good movement, and they were like
47:02
Speaker 2: super into it, and they end up writing a letter
47:07
Speaker 2: to the National Assembly asking to be reinstated into the
47:10
Speaker 2: army and given a regiment of women to lead into
47:13
Speaker 2: battle for France. Now the Assembly are like laughing off
47:19
Speaker 2: a little bit, but also like applauding, so they're kind
47:22
Speaker 2: of supporting it, but also they're they're not gonna do that.
47:26
Speaker 2: They think it's a silly idea, but like they appreciate
47:29
Speaker 2: like the idea of it, like you know what I mean,
47:31
Speaker 2: But it's one of those things were like yes, but no,
47:36
Speaker 2: so the government are just like no, no, no, no no.
47:39
Speaker 2: The nationalssemblees like that wasn't happening. So Dion originally super
47:45
Speaker 2: supporter of like the French Revolution because they're like, I
47:49
Speaker 2: don't think they really understood where it was going to go.
47:53
Speaker 2: So they again big supporter, and then you know, the
48:00
Speaker 2: aristocracy started being gage like Louis loses the head, and
48:09
Speaker 2: once Louis loses his head, Dane loses their pension. So
48:14
Speaker 2: you know, not really good for them, like fiscally, and
48:18
Speaker 2: also remembering that they are also a member of the
48:20
Speaker 2: aristocracy and they don't want to lose their head. Needless
48:25
Speaker 2: to say, they returned to London and at this point
48:28
Speaker 2: there they're not exactly a spring chicken. At this point,
48:31
Speaker 2: Dyone is pretty she's pretty old at this point, and
48:35
Speaker 2: so she returns to London and ends up signing a
48:39
Speaker 2: deal for like a ten volume memoir. Like this is
48:44
Speaker 2: the thing about like back in the day, people would
48:47
Speaker 2: pay by the volume, like it was just something you did.
48:52
Speaker 2: You paid by the volume. You didn't pay by you know,
48:55
Speaker 2: the page, the word. It was by the volume. And
48:58
Speaker 2: so they're gonna get like a ten volume memoir about
49:01
Speaker 2: their life. They're going to like work with like their
49:04
Speaker 2: letters and correspondence, and so they start writing it. Now
49:11
Speaker 2: they write, they don't finish it, but they do write.
49:15
Speaker 2: And the thing about it is as well, is that
49:17
Speaker 2: a lot of this is uh head about this gently
49:22
Speaker 2: fictionalized one they had a reputation to uphold and two
49:29
Speaker 2: again paid by the volume. So they start discussing their
49:37
Speaker 2: life in a sort of twisted way. So they say
49:42
Speaker 2: that they were when they were born that their dad
49:46
Speaker 2: demanded remember Louis de Beaumont, Louis de Beaumont demanded a son,
49:52
Speaker 2: and as such, when Dale was born, like they instead
49:58
Speaker 2: of dressing their and girls clothing, they dress their son
50:03
Speaker 2: their girl in boy's clothing and raise them as a boy.
50:06
Speaker 2: Like that. That's the story that Dale is going with.
50:12
Speaker 2: But here's the thing. We know that Dale was assigned
50:15
Speaker 2: male at birth because of genitalia. Like that is that
50:20
Speaker 2: is something that we know. So the way that they
50:26
Speaker 2: tell their life, they teach they teach it, and they
50:29
Speaker 2: don't teach it, they share it in such a way
50:31
Speaker 2: that you know, they're describing as oh, I was told
50:38
Speaker 2: that I was a boy and I was forced to
50:40
Speaker 2: live my life as a boy. I mean technically they
50:42
Speaker 2: were told that. But the point is the story is,
50:46
Speaker 2: the story goes they were born assigned female at birth,
50:50
Speaker 2: but we're forced to dress as a boy and live
50:52
Speaker 2: as a boy their whole life in order to like
50:57
Speaker 2: get their dad's a state or whatever. En room and
51:01
Speaker 2: get an education and be a man instead of I
51:04
Speaker 2: don't know, their dad just shagging more and having more kids.
51:09
Speaker 2: I don't know anyway, like just try for more. Like
51:12
Speaker 2: it's that's kind of what you do, isn't it. Yeah, no, anyway,
51:17
Speaker 2: So and that they had to have this like life
51:21
Speaker 2: as a man until they had the option to like
51:26
Speaker 2: live as a woman. And so that's the theory, that's
51:29
Speaker 2: the story. But we know that they were signed male
51:31
Speaker 2: at birth and that they you know, realized over time
51:35
Speaker 2: that they were a woman and you know, put themselves
51:39
Speaker 2: into a position that almost like ended their life, Like
51:44
Speaker 2: it made their life a very difficult one to live
51:47
Speaker 2: and to any point, at any point, like having the
51:51
Speaker 2: money they did and the skills that they did, the
51:54
Speaker 2: Chevalier Dale could have easily just switched, like if they
52:01
Speaker 2: were not trans like if they were like a man,
52:05
Speaker 2: they could have basically just gone back to doing that.
52:07
Speaker 2: And like again like living in Ireland or somewhere they
52:09
Speaker 2: weren't known and they could have started a new life,
52:12
Speaker 2: but they chose not to do that. They chose to
52:14
Speaker 2: continue living the lives they lay lived. Like can we
52:18
Speaker 2: have portraits of them and the portraits of them are
52:20
Speaker 2: in sort of the big wigs and the gowns, and
52:23
Speaker 2: they're like they were you know, the cross, the medal
52:26
Speaker 2: and also the Revolution ribbons, like they are doing all
52:29
Speaker 2: this stuff. So they're right in their memoirs, but they're
52:40
Speaker 2: not doing well financially at like at one point they
52:43
Speaker 2: end up in a debtor's prison, like because they're just
52:47
Speaker 2: running out of money because again they've lost their pension
52:50
Speaker 2: which they were getting from France and no longer have.
52:53
Speaker 2: So they're in their seventies. Who is like, oh, you're
52:58
Speaker 2: in their seventies. Lets so let's you're write a ten
53:01
Speaker 2: volume memoir. That's going to work out like chronologically, it's
53:05
Speaker 2: gonna work fine. So they end up selling off their
53:10
Speaker 2: like six thousand book collection. I mean, it's fair, except
53:14
Speaker 2: they sell off their books and they're fencing until like
53:20
Speaker 2: physically they cannot fence anymore. Like they're in their seventies
53:23
Speaker 2: and they're fencing, and it gets to the point where
53:26
Speaker 2: they just stop doing that because you know, there is
53:29
Speaker 2: physically not capable anymore. And at one point she ends
53:33
Speaker 2: up falling down the stairs and becomes like paralyzed for
53:41
Speaker 2: about the last four years of her life. But for
53:45
Speaker 2: the last fourteen years of life. So she'd been living
53:47
Speaker 2: with Missus McColl, who was the widow of a naval officer.
53:51
Speaker 2: So her and Missus McCall were sharing an apartment in London.
53:55
Speaker 2: And so for the first ten years, you know, just
53:58
Speaker 2: generally living together. And then for the last four years
54:02
Speaker 2: Dion ends up bedridden because of this fall and her health.
54:10
Speaker 2: It's not great, like they're not doing too well and
54:16
Speaker 2: sort of they're they're suffering really like to be honest,
54:20
Speaker 2: they're suffering their sort of in their late seventies, early eighties.
54:26
Speaker 2: It's not an easy life in you know, London, and
54:32
Speaker 2: so with the way their health is going, it's no
54:36
Speaker 2: surprise that on the twenty first of May eighteen ten,
54:42
Speaker 2: the Chevalier Dion passes away at the age of eighty
54:46
Speaker 2: one in her apartment in London. Now Missus McColl, who
54:54
Speaker 2: lives with her, the widow, is like, she is like,
54:57
Speaker 2: this is her housemate. She wants to get everything ready
54:59
Speaker 2: for her. She wants to make sure she's sorted for burial,
55:02
Speaker 2: and so she wants to get the body ready, and
55:05
Speaker 2: so she's removing the chemise and she's unbuttoning all the
55:08
Speaker 2: stuff and she gets a shock because as she's unbuttoned it,
55:11
Speaker 2: she's like, OMG, that's a penis. And so she goes
55:15
Speaker 2: to get advice from her friends because as far as
55:17
Speaker 2: she's aware, she's been living with us women for fourteen years. Now.
55:24
Speaker 2: I'm thinking that no, they said paralyzed, but I'm thinking
55:28
Speaker 2: the chevalier couldn't have been too bedridden because they didn't
55:33
Speaker 2: need help peeing, so they couldn't have been too bad.
55:37
Speaker 2: I mean they're bad, yeah, but I feel like they
55:40
Speaker 2: managed to hide that, you know what I mean. They
55:43
Speaker 2: weren't getting like chamber pot help, were they. No, they
55:46
Speaker 2: couldn't have been. They couldn't have been because missus mcaule
55:49
Speaker 2: would have noticed the penis by now, then, wouldn't she. Yeah,
55:54
Speaker 2: So missus mcull goes to get invice from her friends
55:56
Speaker 2: and they tell her to call on the professionals, and
55:59
Speaker 2: so she does, and approximately ten to twelve men show
56:03
Speaker 2: up to assess the body, which frankly seems to me
56:06
Speaker 2: like too many men. So we've got a surgeon, a lawyer,
56:10
Speaker 2: a professor of anatomy, a reporter, and apparently a bunch
56:14
Speaker 2: of other fellows who have the appropriate expertise for gandering
56:17
Speaker 2: at Genitalia and maybe somewhere there for fun, which I
56:21
Speaker 2: hope not because that's creepy. And so one of them states,
56:28
Speaker 2: like they write an official report in the corner is like, yes,
56:32
Speaker 2: that's definitely a penis. But also the body has round
56:37
Speaker 2: limbs and remarkably full breasts. I feel like maybe they
56:42
Speaker 2: just gained weight in their old age. I mean yeah,
56:48
Speaker 2: probably probably probably. Yeah, Like I've dated men who have
56:57
Speaker 2: busts that are sometimes larger than mintain. Like it happens,
57:01
Speaker 2: you get over it, but I mean sometimes they look
57:05
Speaker 2: better my brains and I do, like I'm just saying,
57:07
Speaker 2: but anyway, but they're like, definitely a dude, Definitely, I do,
57:13
Speaker 2: definitely do that's a penis. So I'm going through that
57:17
Speaker 2: year saying that the Chevalier de Leon or Chevalier Deal sorry,
57:24
Speaker 2: was a trans woman, and I think we just report
57:28
Speaker 2: how cool that person is, considering they had to transition
57:30
Speaker 2: so late in life as well, like major respect for deal.
57:36
Speaker 2: So here's the thing. Deale is buried at the Saint
57:41
Speaker 2: Pancras Old Church in eighteen thirteen. That means their body
57:46
Speaker 2: was not buried for three years, and I'm like, what
57:50
Speaker 2: were they doing with that body for three years. I
57:51
Speaker 2: don't appreciate what they were doing. I don't actually really
57:55
Speaker 2: want to know what they were doing because I don't
57:56
Speaker 2: trust anybody with a corpse to be honest. But so
58:00
Speaker 2: a story of the transgender spy for France, a member
58:06
Speaker 2: of the King Secret the Chevalier Deal. If you liked
58:12
Speaker 2: my retelling of this story, you feel free to write
58:14
Speaker 2: and review of five stars. And if there's an echo,
58:17
Speaker 2: I did my best to get it out. So we're
58:19
Speaker 2: just gonna have to suck it up this week. Don't forget.
58:22
Speaker 2: You can follow me on all the socials sting up
58:24
Speaker 2: for my newsletter. It's gonna be a great time. There's
58:26
Speaker 2: going to be updates. I I loove good things. I
58:29
Speaker 2: need to update to like Patreon as well, like I
58:31
Speaker 2: have them here ready to go. I just haven't uploaded
58:33
Speaker 2: them yet, like an absolute urse. But that's that. But
58:36
Speaker 2: of course we have a recommendation time, So for reading,
58:42
Speaker 2: I am actually gonna suggest the Tip in the Velvet,
58:48
Speaker 2: Tip of the Velvet by Sarah Waters. I just rebought
58:51
Speaker 2: a copy of it again. So did I recommend that
58:54
Speaker 2: last week? Did I? I don't care. I'm recommending it again.
58:57
Speaker 2: For listening. I'm you know, sodast am I gonna recommend
59:03
Speaker 2: for listening. What have I been listening to this week?
59:06
Speaker 2: I haven't been listening to anything this week? Oh God,
59:09
Speaker 2: what I like? You know what, Let's go for some nostalgia. Then,
59:14
Speaker 2: I think everybody should listen to you Spin Me Around
59:20
Speaker 2: by Dead or Alive. It's a good fun song. It is.
59:22
Speaker 2: It really pumps you up. We should go listen to it.
59:24
Speaker 2: And if you're not gonna listen to it, at least
59:26
Speaker 2: watch the Paul Rudd version. It's very funny and for watching. Okay,
59:34
Speaker 2: we all know Bridgeton's coming out this week, and I
59:36
Speaker 2: am gonna have a Bridgerton kind of themed special episode
59:40
Speaker 2: coming out later in the week, and I think you're
59:42
Speaker 2: gonna like it. It's got a bisexual mess, because it's
59:46
Speaker 2: got our favorite bisexual mess, a very particular lord, a
59:52
Speaker 2: Lord Byron who is just the definition of bisexual panic.
59:56
Speaker 2: I swear to God anyway with that, I shall bade
1:00:00
Speaker 2: you adieu. Adieus au Revoir of Widows are my friends.
1:00:05
Speaker 2: Bye Bye. M