Countess Hélène "Nelly" Marie Henriette de Vogüé (; née von Jaunez; 28 November 1908 – 17 June 2003) was a French aristocrat, socialite, businesswoman, painter, and writer. She studied art at the

École des Beaux-Arts de Paris The (), formally the (), is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level fine arts education and training. The art school, which is part of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is located on two sites: Saint-G ...

before succeeding her father as president of Haviland France, her family's ceramics company. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, de Vogüé was surveilled by the

Allied Intelligence Bureau The Allied Intelligence Bureau (AIB) was a joint United States, Australian, Dutch and British intelligence and special operations agency during World War II. It was responsible for operating parties of spies and commandos behind Japanese lines i ...

after her ability to move freely, using various aliases, between Allied and

Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

territories raised suspicions. The

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the first intelligence agency of the United States, formed during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines ...

filed over seventeen pages in reports detailing their suspicion that de Vogüé may have been an agent of

Vichy France Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the Battle of France, ...

and a Nazi collaborator. She was the long-time mistress of

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, vicomte de Saint-Exupéry (29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944), known simply as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (, , ), was a French writer, poet, journalist and aviator. Born in Lyon to an French nobility, aristocratic ...

, and was referred to as Madame de B. in his biographies and as The Beautiful E in the memoirs of

Consuelo de Saint-Exupéry Consuelo, comtesse de Saint-Exupéry (née Suncín de Sandoval; 10 April 1901 – 28 May 1979), was a Salvadoran and French writer and artist, and was married to the French aristocrat, writer and pioneering aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Ea ...

. Following de Saint-Exupéry's presumed death in 1944, de Vogüé became the executrix of his literary works and, under the ''

nom de plume A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

'' Pierre Chevrier, authored his biography in 1949. She published the posthumous editions of de Saint-Exupéry's manuscripts for ''Écrits de guerre'', ''Citadelle'', and ''Carnets''. She submitted her collection of de Saint-Exupéry's writings to the Archives Nationales, where they will be privately held until 2053.

Biography

De Vogüé was born on 28 November 1908 to Maximilian von Jaunez, a prominent French-German industrialist who was part of the

Prussian nobility 01 or 01 may refer to: * The year 2001, or any year ending with 01 * The month of January * 1 (number) Music * ''01'' (Richard Müller album), 2001 * ''01'' (Urban Zakapa album), 2011 * ''01011001'', the seventh studio album from Arjen Anthony L ...

and owned a large ceramics factory in Eastern France, and

Jeanne de Montagnac Clémence Elise Marie ''Jeanne'' "Pata" de Montagnac (16 April 1882 – 27 June 1966), later known as Madame Maximilian von Jaunez and Comtesse Charles de Polignac, was a French socialite, salonnière, arts patron, and singer. She co-hosted salon ...

, a singer and a daughter of Louis Elizé de Montagnac, Baron de Montagnac. She was of German ancestry on her father's side. Her paternal grandfather,

Édouard von Jaunez Édouard von Jaunez (12 November 1834 – 26 June 1916) was a French-German businessman, engineer, and politician. He was a prominent industrialist who owned and operated ceramics factories in France, Germany, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Jaunez ser ...

, was a member of the Imperial German Reichstag and the president of the Regional Council of Lorraine. Through her maternal grandmother, Henriette Delphine Rosalés y de Beusse, she was a descendant of the Basque-Chilean

Larraín family The Larraín family is an influential Chilean family of Basque people, Basque origin. Their members include prominent aristocratic politicians and businessmen. The Larrain family first arrived in Chile more than 450 years ago, and they have been p ...

. De Vogüé's parents divorced in 1911. Her mother married a second time, in 1925, to Count Charles M César Ludovic de Polignac and her father married a second time, in 1927, to Florrie King. She was considered a "ravishing beauty" and was renowned in Parisian

society A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. ...

for her beauty and her intellect. De Vogüé was a passionate painter and studied art at the

. She was well-versed in literature and was fluent in several languages. She inherited her father's ceramics factory, Haviland France, and took over as the company's president, becoming one of the first women business leaders in France. In 1927, she married the French aristocrat Count Jean Alexandre Melchior de Vogüé, a grandson of

Melchior de Vogüé Charles-Jean-Melchior, Marquis de Vogüé (18 October 182910 November 1916) was a French archaeologist, diplomat, and member of the Académie française in seat 18. Biography Born in Paris as the eldest son of Léonce de Vogüé, Melchior de V ...

. They had one son, Patrice de Vogüé. De Vogüé died on 17 June 2003 in the

7th arrondissement of Paris The 7th arrondissement of Paris (''VIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. It is known for being, along with the 16th arrondissement and the ''commune'' of Neuilly-sur-Sein ...

Relationship with Saint-Exupéry

De Vogüé was introduced to Count Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in 1929 at the home of their friend,

Louise Lévêque de Vilmorin Marie Louise Lévêque de Vilmorin (4 April 1902 – 26 December 1969), commonly known as Louise de Vilmorin, was a French novelist, poet and journalist. Vilmorin was best known as a writer of delicate but wiktionary:en:mordant, mordant tales, of ...

. They met again afterwards attending Parisian salons. By 1934, she was one of the lovers of de Saint-Exupéry, who was married to Consuelo Suncín de Sandoval. Consuelo knew of the affair, which caused her much distress, and referred to de Vogüé as ''the beautiful E'' in her memoirs. She remained his mistress until his death. She accompanied him on his travels, and was photographed with him returning from a trip to Moscow in 1938. In 1943, she joined de Saint-Exupéry in

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

, arriving from

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

in an American plane that was being watched by the

due to there being a rising suspicion in her ability to move freely between Allied and

territory. The

made over seventeen pages of reports detailing their suspicion that de Vogüé was an agent of

and a

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

collaborator during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Throughout the war, she was able to move between Nazi-occupied France and allied territories including London and New York using a variety of aliases. The Office of Strategic Services identified Saint-Exupéry as her lover, stating in one report that "Although a French patriot, subject has been equivocal in his attitude towards France." After she left Algiers, de Saint-Exupéry wrote her several letters mentioning his regrets for their arguments and his love and need for her. De Saint-Exupéry's last letter to de Vogüé was written on 30 July 1944. Upon de Saint-Exupéry's disappearance and presumed death in 1944, de Vogüé inherited his literary estate. She promoted his work and sought to celebritize his literary reputation, helping writers with source materials and granting biographers permission to access and write about his work. De Vogüé required the writers who she granted access to never disclose her relationship with Saint-Exupéry. As such, biographers she worked with referred to her as ''Madame d B.'' to conceal her identity. She deposited her collection of her lover's writings in the Archives Nationales, where they will be kept privately until 2053. In 1949, she published a book dedicated to de Saint-Exupéry, writing under the pseudonym Pierre Chevrier. She also published the posthumous editions of de Saint-Exupéry's manuscripts for ''Écrits de guerre'', ''Citadelle'', and ''Carnets''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vogue, Nelly de 1908 births 2003 deaths 20th-century French businesswomen 20th-century French businesspeople Antoine de Saint-Exupéry École des Beaux-Arts alumni French countesses French people of Basque descent French people of Chilean descent French people of German descent French women biographers French women painters German untitled nobility

Nelly Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. (born November 2, 1974), better known by his stage name Nelly, is an American rapper, singer, and actor. He grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and embarked on his musical career in 1993 as a member of the Midwest hip hop g ...

Mistresses Nobility from Paris People of the French Third Republic People of Vichy France Prussian nobility Socialites from Paris

Women business executives