Charles-Genevieve-Louis-Auguste-Andre-Timothee d'eon de Beaumont or Madame d'Eon (1728-1810), usually known as the Chevalier d'eon, was a French diplomat, spy, freemason and soldier who fought in the Seven Years' War. D'eon had androgynous physical characteristics and natural abilities as a mimic. D'eon appeared publicly as a man and pursued masculine occupations for 49 years, although during that time d'eon successfully infiltrated the court of Empress Elizabeth of Russia by presenting as a woman. For 33 years, from 1777, d'eon dressed as a woman, identifying as female. D'eon became paralyzed following a fall, and spent a final four years bedridden, dying in poverty in 1810 at the age of 81. Doctors who examined his body after death discovered male organs in every respect perfectly formed but also feminine characteristics. |