Caroline Delacroix
| Caroline Lacroix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baroness Vaughan | |||||
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| Born |
13 May 1883 Bucharest, Romania |
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| Died | 12 February 1948 (aged 64) Cambo-les-Bains, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France |
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| Burial | Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, France | ||||
| Spouse |
Leopold II of Belgium disputed Antoine Durrieux |
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| Issue | Lucien Philippe Delacroix Durrieux Philippe Henri Delacroix Durrieux |
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| Father | Jules Delacroix | ||||
| Mother | Catherine Josephine Sebille | ||||
| Full name | |
|---|---|
| Blanche Zélie Joséphine Delacroix |
Blanche Zélia Joséphine Delacroix, better known as Caroline Lacroix (13 May 1883 – 12 February 1948) was the most prominent and notorious of Leopold II of Belgium's mistresses.
Delacroix, who was of French origin, met the king in Paris as a young girl, when she was only 16 and he was 65. At that time, she earned her living as a prostitute. They soon embarked upon a relationship that was to last until his death in 1909. Leopold lavished upon her large sums of money, estates, gifts, and a noble title, Baroness Vaughan. Because of these presents, Caroline was deeply unpopular both among the Belgian people and internationally, as Leopold became increasingly criticized for his greed-induced actions in the Congo Free State, his own personal colony. As Caroline largely profited off the income from the colony, she became known as La reine du Congo (“the Queen of Congo”).
She and Leopold married in a religious ceremony five days before his death, though their failure to perform a civil ceremony rendered the marriage void under Belgian law. After the king's death, it was soon discovered that he had left Caroline numerous properties, items of high material value, Congolese bonds, and other valuable sources of income – all of which turned her into a multimillionaire. For years the Belgian government and Leopold's three estranged daughters attempted to recover some of this wealth, with their success varying depending on the case. Caroline died on 12 February 1948 in Cambo-les-Bains, France.
There remains a small degree of mystery concerning Caroline's early life. One account states that her father, Jules Delacroix, was a janitor of the French Legation at Bucharest. Another states that her father lived in Bucharest to seek his fortune, and she was born there as the thirteenth child of her parents. In her youth, Caroline worked as a barmaid.
Various sources assert that Caroline was a prostitute living in Paris. As a young woman, she was the mistress of Antoine-Emmanuel Durrieux, a former officer in the French army. According to Adam Hochschild, Durrieux liked to support the two of them by betting on horse races; when his luck soured, he became a form of pimp, prostituting Caroline to well-born clients. They undertook their schemes at the Élysée Palace, but frequently left debts unpaid. One day in 1900, while residing in Paris, Leopold II of Belgium heard of her "attractions" and felt interested in her modest beginnings. A woman sent by Leopold informed Caroline, "Madame, I am sent to you by a gentleman who has noticed you. He is a very high personage, but his exalted position obliges me to withhold his name".
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Wikipedia