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Albertine-Elisabeth Pater (1742–1817), was a Dutch and French aristocrat and spy. She is known as the secret mistress of
Albertine-Elisabeth Pater (1742–1817), was a Dutch and French aristocrat and spy. She is known as the secret mistress of Louis XV of France
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
in 1771.Fleury, Maurice & comte, Louis XV intime et les petites maîtresses., Paris, 1909 She was the king's ''Petite maîtresse'' (unofficial mistress), not his Maîtresse-en-titre
The ''maîtresse-en-titre'' () was the chief royal mistress of the King of France. The title came into use during the reign of Henry IV of France, Henry IV and continued through the reign of Louis XV of France, Louis XV. It was a semi-officia ...
(official mistress).
Life
She was the daughter of the Dutch baron Johann Gisbert von Neukirchen or Nyvenheim (1705-1792) and Margriet van Wijhe (1714- ?), and married the rich Dutch banker Gerhard Pater in 1750. She separated from her spouse in 1763 and settled in Paris under the name and title . By the allowance and inheritance from her spouse, which was founded on diamond mines and slave plantations in Dutch Suriname, she was very rich. She was at one point the lover of ministerÉtienne François, duc de Choiseul
Étienne François, Marquis de Stainville, Duc de Choiseul, KOHS, OGF (28 June 17198 May 1785) was a French military officer, diplomat and statesman. From 1758 to 1761 and from 1766 to 1770, he was Foreign Minister of France and had a strong ...
, who collaborated with the Emmanuel-Armand de Richelieu, duc d'Aiguillon
Emmanuel-Armand de Vignerot du Plessis-Richelieu, Duke of d'Aiguillon (31 July 17201 September 1788), was a French soldier and statesman, and a nephew of Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, 3rd Duke of Richelieu. He served as the Secretary of State f ...
to depose the king's mistress Madame Dubarry
Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse du Barry (19 August 1743 – 8 December 1793) was the last ''maîtresse-en-titre'' of King Louis XV of France. She was executed, by guillotine, during the French Revolution due to accounts of treason—particularly being ...
by arranging an affair between the king and Pater and suggest that he enter into a secret morganatic marriage with her. The plot failed but attracted attention and is documented in contemporary letters.
In 1779, she remarried Louis-Quentin de Richebourg, Marquis de Champcenetz
A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...
(father of Louis René Quentin de Richebourg de Champcenetz
Louis René Quentin de Richebourg de Champcenetz; (1759, in Paris – 23 July 1794, Paris) was a French journalist guillotined for his writings. He was the son of the Marquis de Champcenetz, governor of the Tuileries Palace at the time of the F ...
). Through her personal friend Diane de Polignac file:Attributed to Claude Hoin - A lady called the Comtesse Diane de Polignac.jpg, 200px, Diane de Polignac
Diane Louise Augustine de Polignac (1746 – 1818), was a French aristocrat, writer and courtier, and a lady-in-waiting to Princess Élisabe ...
, she became a member of the private circle of Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...
at Trianon. She emigrated when the French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
erupted in 1789, but returned in 1791.
Albertine-Elisabeth Pater used her personal fortune to finance the political party of the Dutch patriots. She allied herself with the French royalist émigrées, and acted as their financier as well as a go-between and agent between them and their contacts in France. She acted as a go-between in the correspondence between Marie Antoinette and Yolande de Polastron
Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron, Duchess of Polignac (8 September 17499 December 1793) was the favourite of Marie Antoinette, whom she first met when she was presented at the Palace of Versailles in 1775, the year after Marie Antoinette be ...
.
She was arrested and imprisoned for counterrevolutionary activity during the Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, ...
but was released after the fall of Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman who became one of the best-known, influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. As a member of the Esta ...
. After the release, she resumed her activity as an agent and financier of the exile French royalist émigrées, taking her orders from the count of Artois
The count of Artois (French: Comtes d'Artois, Dutch: Graven van Artesië) was the ruler over the County of Artois from the 9th century until the abolition of the countship by the French revolutionaries in 1790.
House of Artois
*Odalric (c. 850s) ...
. She was exiled with her spouse in 1803 accused of involvement in the Pichegru Conspiracy
The Pichegru Conspiracy, otherwise known as the Cadoudal Affair was a conspiracy involving royalists Jean-Charles Pichegru and Georges Cadoudal who wished to overthrow Napoleon Bonaparte's military regime. They were apprehended and sentenced to ...
.
References