Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan
| Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan | |
|---|---|
Portrait of Henriette Campan by Joseph Boze, 1786
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| Born |
Jeanne Louise Henriette Genet 6 October 1752 Pari |
| Died | 16 March 1822 (aged 69) Mantes |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | lady-in-waiting, educator |
| Known for | reader to Princess Victoire of France, Princess Sophie of France and Princess Louise Marie of France |
Jeanne Louise Henriette Campan (née Genet; 6 October 1752, Paris – 16 March 1822, Mantes) was a French educator, writer and lady-in-waiting. In the service of Marie Antoinette before and during the French Revolution, she was afterwards headmistress of the first "Maison d'éducation de la Légion d'honneur", as appointed by Napoleon in 1807.
Her father was the highest-ranking clerk in the foreign office (the ambassador Citizen Genet was her younger brother), and, although without fortune, placed her in the most cultivated society. By the age of fifteen she could speak English and Italian, and had gained so high a reputation for her academic accomplishments as to be appointed reader to Louis XV's daughters (Mesdames Victoire, Sophie and Louise) in 1768, and lady-in-waiting to Marie Antoinette in 1770. She was a general favourite at court, and when in 1774 she bestowed her hand upon Monsieur Campan, son of the secretary of the royal cabinet, the king gave her an annuity of 5,000 livres as dowry. The marriage was unhappy and the couple separated in 1790. Madame Campan was made Première femme de Chambre by Marie Antoinette in 1786; and she continued to attend on her until the 10 August 1792 storming of the Tuileries Palace, in which she was forcibly separated from the queen. With her own house pillaged and burned that day, Henriette sought asylum in the countryside.
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