Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand was the eldest son of a noble couple. He was arguably the most successful diplomat in French history, with a career spanning all the regimes from before Napoleon to Louis-Philippe.
Both of his parents were part of the court of Versailles. His mother was lady-in-waiting to Louis XVI’s mother and he was present at Louis XVI’s coronation. As eldest son, he should have been in the military but his club foot prevented that. He was forced to take the role of a second son and join the church, becoming a bishop the same year the French Revolution started. He joined the revolutionaries in their confiscation of church property (it helped that he had been Agent General of the clergy when he was 25 and had made an inventory of the church’s properties in France). Naturally the Pope excommunicated him.
Under the Directory Talleyrand was Foreign Minister and quickly recognised Napoleon’s potential and began corresponding with him. When Napoleon became Premier Consul after the coup d’état, he made Talleyrand Foreign Minister. The Pope reversed Talleyrand’s excommunication when he was involved in Napoleon’s decision to allow the Church to resume its place and the return of the aristocracy to France.
Even as a member of the clergy, Talleyrand had a very active personal life. He had been living with his mistress, divorcee Catherine Grand for four years when Napoleon, who did not like messy personal lives, forced them to marry.
The following year (1803), at Napoleon’s direction (and with his financial aid), Talleyrand bought the Chateau of Valencay. Napoleon wanted him to have a property where he could, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, lavishly receive the diplomatic corps and important foreign statesmen.
Between 1809 and 1813, Talleyrand’s chateau of Valencay became the gilded cage for the exiled princes of Spain. Ferdinand, future King of Spain, occupied the largest bedroom in the Chateau. They returned to Spain after the Treaty of Valençay was signed. A room is set aside to commemorate the imprisonment of the King of Spain with the Empire period furniture.
Talleyrand was a brilliant politician but a very slippery individual. Napoleon described him as a shit in a silk stocking.
They disagreed over many issues and Talleyrand resigned as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He remained in the Council of State and took bribes from European leaders and secretly advised the Tsar on dealing with Napoleon.
When Napoleon was defeated, Talleyrand represented France in the negotiations at the Congress of Vienna, where his good relationships with the European leaders resulted in remarkably lenient terms for France. He recommended the return of the Bourbon monarchy under Louis XVI’s brother, who became Louis XVIII*.
When Talleyrand attended the Congress of Vienna, he was accompanied by his nephew’s German wife, Princess Dorothea.
*Louis XVI’s son and heir had died during the Revolution. From the viewpoint of the monarchists, he was Louis XVII after his father was guillotined.
Having no legitimate heirs, Talleyrand set about finding a wealthy, prestigious wife for his nephew Edmond. He asked the Tsar to convince the very wealthy German Duchess of Courland to agree to the marriage of her youngest daughter Dorothea to Edmond. The wedding took place when Dorothea was 16 and she and her mother moved to Paris where the mother became one of many mistresses of Talleyrand.
Dorothea was 21 when she accompanied Talleyrand to the Congress of Vienna to negotiate on behalf of France after the defeat of Napoleon. She was a major hit and her intelligence was in sharp contrast to Talleyrand’s wife Catherine who was regarded by many as “the most stupid woman in Paris”. Catherine and Talleyrand separated shortly after.*
*Before we feel sorry for Catherine it should be noted she had an affair with the Spanish diplomat in charge of the entourage at Valencay, about which Napoleon took delight in teasing Talleyrand. She was left home after that.
With Napoleon out of the picture, Louis XVIII became king with the support of Talleyrand, who was made a Duke of France. He was also honoured with the title of the Duke of Dino (by the King of Two Sicilies). He gave this title to his nephew, making Dorothea the Duchess of Dino. A few months later Dorothea and Edmond separated, although this didn’t become official for another seven years.
Dorothea moved in with Talleyrand and lived with him for the rest of his life.
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The guest bedroom at Valencay is also known as Germaine de Stael’s bedroom. Talleyrand bought her Directory style bed as a souvenir after her death. She had been a close friend of Talleyrand (and one of his many lovers) until she fell out of favour with Napoleon.
Talleyrand ordered a state bed for Valencay. It is unlikely he would have slept in it, thanks to his disability.
The bed was purchased and restored by the Legion of Honour museum in San Francisco and is displayed there.
In 1812 Talleyrand purchased the Hotel Saint FlorentinHotel Saint Florentin in Paris.*
He died there in 1838 at the age of 84 after a visit from King Louis-Philippe. The Duchesse de Dino was at his side. The bed he died in is now displayed at Valencay.
*Hotel Saint-Florentin was designed by the architect Gabriel and is situated on the north east corner of Place de la Concorde in Paris. Talleyrand entertained all the major political players there including the Russian Tsar, the Austrian Emperor and the Duke of Wellington. Due to the negotiations that took place there, Talleyrand described it to the Tsar as a “temple of peace”. Two months after his death, The Duchesse de Dino sold it to Baron James de Rothschild. The Rothschild family sold Hotel Saint-Florentin to the US government in 1950. They had rented it since the end of the Second World War where it housed the George C Marshall Centre working on the Marshall Plan organising the reconstruction of Europe.
When he decorated Valençay he included a directory style bedroom which he named for Germaine de Stael.
