Grace Elliott

Grace Elliott
Portrait of Grace Elliot by Thomas Gainsborough, circa 1778 (in the Frick Collection)
Born	1754 Edinburgh, Scotland
Died	1823 Ville d'Avray
Nationality	British
Known for	mistress of the Louis Philip II, Duke of Orléans

Grace Dalrymple Elliott (1754–1823) was a Scottish courtesan and spy who resided in Paris at the time of the French Revolution. Elliott was an eyewitness to events which she detailed in her memoirs, Journal of My Life during the French Revolution (Ma Vie Sous La Révolution) published posthumously in 1859. During her lifetime she also served as the mistress to the Duke of Orléans, and the future George IV, by whom she is said to have born an illegitimate daughter. Elliott trafficked correspondence and hid French aristocrats wishing to escape the French Revolution. She was arrested several times but managed to avoid the guillotine and was released after the death of Robespierre.

She was the youngest daughter of Hew Dalrymple, an Edinburgh advocate concerned in the great Douglas case, who was an LL.D. in 1771, and died in 1774. She was born about 1754. Her mother, on being left by her husband, had rejoined her parents, in whose house Grace was born. She was educated in a French convent and was introduced by her father on her return into Edinburgh society. Her beauty made such an impression on John Elliott, a prominent and wealthy physician, that he made her an offer of marriage in 1771. Although Elliott was roughly 20 years her senior, his proposal was accepted. The couple entered fashionable society, though eventually grew apart due to their difference in age and interests. In 1774 Elliott met and fell in love with Lord Valentia, with whom she entered into an affair. Convinced of his wife's infidelities, John Elliott had the couple followed and eventually sued Valentia for Criminal Conversation, (adultery). He received £12,000 in damages before successfully obtaining a divorce. With her reputation in tatters,Grace became recognised as a member of the demimonde and was forced to earn her living as a professional mistress, or courtesan. She was then taken by her brother to a French convent, but seems to have been brought back almost immediately by Lord Cholmondeley,who became her lover and who remained one of her principle protectors throughout her life.