Pauline Marie Ghislaine de Bassano, née ''van der Linden d'Hooghvorst'' (23 September 1814 in

Meise Meise () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the towns of Meise proper and Wolvertem (a ''deelgemeente''), and, several smaller villages like Sint-Brixius-Rode, Oppem, Meusegem, Impde/I ...

– 9 December 1867), was a French

courtier A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the official r ...

. She served as ''

dame d'honneur Dame d'honneur or Dame d’honneur was a common title for two categories of French ladies-in-waiting, who are often confused because of the similarity. Dame d'honneur can be: * Short for Première dame d'honneur, which were commonly shortened to ...

'' to Empress

Eugénie de Montijo ''Doña'' María Eugenia Ignacia Agustina de Palafox y Kirkpatrick, 19th Countess of Teba, 16th Marchioness of Ardales (5 May 1826 – 11 July 1920), known as Eugénie de Montijo (), was Empress of the French from her marriage to Emperor Napo ...

in 1853–1867.

Life

She was born to the Belgian politician . In 1843, she married the French diplomat , 3rd Duc de Bassano. Her mother-in-law, , had been to the Empresses Josephine and Marie-Louise.

Court career

In 1853, her spouse was appointed chamberlain to Emperor

Napoleon III of France Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

, and she appointed to the Empress. The ladies-in-waiting of the new Empress consisted of a or senior lady-in-waiting, the Princesse d'Essling; a

Dame d'honneur Dame d'honneur or Dame d’honneur was a common title for two categories of French ladies-in-waiting, who are often confused because of the similarity. Dame d'honneur can be: * Short for Première dame d'honneur, which were commonly shortened to ...

or deputy, the Duchesse de Bassano, who both attended court on grand functions; and six (later twelve)

Dame du Palais The Dame du Palais, originally only Dame, was an historical office in the Royal Court of France. It was a title of a lady-in-waiting holding the official position of personal attendant on a female member of the French Royal Family. The position ...

, who were selected from among the acquaintances to the Empress prior to her marriage, and who alternated in pairs fulfilling the daily duties. It belonged to her task to receive the applications from the women wishing to be presented at court, instruct them in etiquette, approve them and finally present them, which was an important part of the Imperial protocol of representation. She also supervised the other female courtiers. Alongside the princesse d'Essling, de Bassano had a very visible public position as it belonged to her duty to accompany the empress at all grander representational public events. Being a public figure who dealt with those wishing admission to the court, she is also frequently depicted in contemporary memoirs.Pauline de Bassano have been described as attractive, stable, imposing and somewhat arrogant.Seward, Desmond: Eugénie. An empress and her empire. (2004) A contemporary described her as "a very distinguished looking woman, had a most charming manner and performed her duties with much discretion."Comte Fleury:
Memoirs Of The Empress Eugenie Vol-I
', 1920 She had an apartment in the Tuileries, and hosted private functions attended by the Parisian elite, which the empress sometimes attended, and which played a valuable role in recruiting connections and supporters of value for the Second Empire regime. She served until her death in 1867, and was replaced by

Marie-Anne Walewska Marie-Anne Walewska, Duchess Colonna-Walewski, née di Ricci, (1823–1912), was a French courtier and royal mistress. She served as ''Première dame d'honneur'' to Empress Eugénie de Montijo in 1868–1870, and was the last to perform th ...

Legacy

She belonged to the ladies-in-waiting depicted with Eugenie in the famous painting '' Empress Eugénie Surrounded by her Ladies in Waiting'' by

Franz Xaver Winterhalter Franz Xaver Winterhalter (20 April 1805 – 8 July 1873) was a German painter and lithographer, known for his flattering portraits of royalty and upper-class society in the mid-19th century. His name has become associated with fashionable court ...

from 1855.

References

* Seward, Desmond: Eugénie. An empress and her empire. (2004) * Allison Unruh: Aspiring to la Vie Galante: Reincarnations of Rococo in Second Empire France * Philip Walsingham Sergeant: The last empress of the French (1907) * Carette Madame:
Recollections of the court of the Tuileries
' (1890) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bassano, Pauline de 1814 births 1867 deaths French duchesses French ladies-in-waiting People of the Second French Empire Belgian nobility Ladies-in-waiting to Eugénie de Montijo