Catherine Noël de Talleyrand-Périgord (née Worlée; 21 November 1761[note 1] – 10 December 1835), was a French courtesan and noblewoman.

She had a basic private education[6] – taught to read and write by her mother – but she excelled at art, dance, and etiquette.

[4] Catherine met George François Grand, an English Company clerk at a ball at Ghiretta House, situated upon the banks of the Hooghly River.

[10] He achieved the rank of captain before resigning from military service in March 1773 owing to illness and returned to England.

The newly-weds took up residence in a house near the neighborhood of Alipore in south Calcutta and seemed to have had a happy first year of married life.

[14] Mrs Grand caught the attention of British colonial official Philip Francis, member of the Supreme Council of Bengal, who was discovered trying to seduce her at her home on the night of 8 December 1778 by her servants.

[15] The scandal caused Catherine's husband to send her back to live with her family in Chandernagore, and successfully sued Francis for adultery, receiving 50,000 rupees in damages on 6 March 1779.

[17] On 17 August 1780, Francis was seriously injured in a duel with his political rival Warren Hastings and decided to leave India.

[18] Once aboard, Catherine began an affair with fellow passenger Thomas Lewin, a colonial official from Madras and later father of Harriet Grote.

In later years, Édouard Colmache would describer thus:[24] Madame Grand had the kind of beauty which is the rarest and most admired in Europe.

She was tall and slight, with that languor in her carriage peculiar to creole ladies; her eyes were well open and affectionate, her features delicate, her golden hair playing in numberless curls, set off a forehead as white as a lily.Catherine fled to Britain in 1792 during the French Revolution, but returned to Paris in 1797.

Concerned that he meant to abandon her, Catherine forced herself into a diplomatic dinner being hosted by Talleyrand and declared their engagement.

[26] They were married in a quiet ceremony at Neuilly on 9 September 1802; Napoleon and his wife Joséphine signed their marriage contract.

[30] At a reception at the Tuileries Palace soon after her marriage, Napoleon is alleged to have remarked, "I hope that the good conduct of citoyen Talleyrand will cause the fickleness of Madame Grand to be forgotten."