Eleanore Sullivan

Anna Eleanore Sullivan, previously Eleanora Franchi (12 June 1750 in Lucca – 14 September 1833) was an Italian courtesan, mostly known in history for her relationship with Axel von Fersen, the alleged lover of the French queen Marie Antoinette.

Active as a courtesan, Eleanore was at one point a lover of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, but was exiled by his mother, Maria Theresa of Austria.

Fersen's relationship with Sullivan is confirmed to have been sexual, and his sister and confidant Sophie Piper reproached him for it out of consideration for the feelings of Marie Antoinette: "I truly hope that she will never find out about this, for it would give her great pain", and: "Think of Her, the poor one, spare her such mortal sorrows!".

In 1792, Axel von Fersen returned secretly to Paris in an attempt to arrange another escape for the royal family, during which he was hidden by Eleanore Sullivan using the name of Eugen Franchi, her illegitimate son by the Duke of Württemberg.

In that year Sullivan's daughter married Jean François Louis Marie Albert Gaspard Grimod, Comte d'Orsay (15 June 1772 – 26 December 1843), by whom she had issue.