Hortense Eugénie Cécile Bonaparte, Queen consort of Holland, was the stepdaughter of Emperor Napoléon I, being the daughter of his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais. She later became the wife of the former's brother, Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland, and the mother of Napoléon III, Emperor of the French. She had also an illegitimate son, The 1st Duc de Morny, by her lover, the Comte de Flahaut.
Pierre-Paul Prud'hon was a French Romantic painter and draughtsman best known for his allegorical paintings and portraits such as Madame Georges Anthony and Her Two Sons. In particular, he painted a portrait of both of Napoleon's wives.
Jeanne Louise Henriette Campan was a French educator, writer and lady-in-waiting. In the service of Marie Antoinette before and during the French Revolution, she was afterwards headmistress of the first "Maison d'éducation de la Légion d'honneur", as appointed by Napoleon in 1807.
Angélique Victoire de Durfort-Civrac, Countess of Chastellux, was a French courtier. She served as dame d'honneur to Madame Victoire, daughter of King Louis XV, from 1786 to 1799.
Anne d'Arpajon, comtesse de Noailles was a French noblewoman and court official. She served as the dame d'honneur of two Queens of France, Marie Leszczyńska and Marie Antoinette. She was called "Madame Etiquette" by Marie Antoinette for her insistence that no minutia of court etiquette ever be altered or disregarded.
The Coronation of Napoleon is a painting completed in 1807 by Jacques-Louis David, the official painter of Napoleon, depicting the coronation of Napoleon I at Notre-Dame de Paris. The painting has imposing dimensions, as it is almost 10 metres (33 ft) wide by a little over 6 metres (20 ft) tall. The work is held in the Louvre in Paris.
Pentemont Abbey is a set of 18th and 19th century buildings at the corner of Rue de Grenelle and Rue de Bellechasse in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. The abbey was a Cistercian convent founded near Beauvais in 1217 and moved to its current site in Paris in 1672 at the behest of Louis XIV. A reconstruction of the abbey was initiated in 1745 by the Abbess Marie-Catherine Béthisy de Mézières and work was completed in 1783. In the late 18th century the abbey was one of the most prestigious educational institutions in Paris for daughters of the elite, including two of Thomas Jefferson's. The abbey also provided rooms for ladies of good standing who were in search of rest, including Joséphine de Beauharnais when the case of her separation from her first husband was heard.
Pauline Marie Ghislaine de Bassano, née van der Linden d'Hooghvorst, was a French courtier. She served as dame d'honneur to Empress Eugénie de Montijo in 1853–1867.
Première dame d'honneur, or simply dame d'honneur, was an office at the royal court of France. It existed in nearly all French courts from the 16th-century onward. Though the tasks of the post shifted, the dame d'honneur was normally the first or second rank of all ladies-in-waiting. The dame d'honneur was selected from the members of the highest French nobility.
Première femme de Chambre was an office at the royal court of France.
Laure-Auguste de Fitz-James, princesse de Chimay was a French courtier. She served as lady-in-waiting to queen Marie Antoinette from 1770 to 1791.
Geneviève d'Ossun née de Gramont was a French courtier. She served as dame d'atour to the queen of France, Marie Antoinette, from 1781 until 1791, and as Première dame d'honneur from 1791 until 1792.
Hortense Félicité de Mailly, Mademoiselle de Chalon, marquise de Flavacourt (1715–1799) was a French courtier, one of the five famous de Nesle sisters, four of whom would become the mistress of King Louis XV of France. She was the only one of the four sisters never to become the king's mistress, though she was often the subject of speculations.
Marie-Catherine de Senecey, née de La Rochefoucauld-Randan (1588–1677) was a French courtier. She served as Première dame d'honneur to the queen of France, Anne of Austria, from 1626 until 1638, and royal governess to king Louis XIV of France and his brother from 1643 until 1646.
