Sophie Dawes, Baronne de Feuchères

Sophie Dawes (29 September 1790 – 15 December 1840), Baroness de Feuchères by marriage, was the English mistress of Louis Henry II, Prince of Condé.

[2] Dawes later worked as a servant in a high-class brothel in Piccadilly, where the valet of the exiled Duke of Bourbon, afterwards Louis Henri, Prince of Condé, pointed her out to his master.

To prevent scandal and to qualify her to be received at court, in 1818 he had her married to Adrien Victor de Feuchères,[1] a lieutenant-colonel commanding the 6th Infantry Regiment of the Royal Guards.

Thanks to her influence, however, Condé was induced in 1829 to sign a will bequeathing the bulk of his estate—worth more than sixty-six millions—to the Duke of Aumale, fourth son of Louis Philippe d'Orléans,[1] and 2,000,000 francs, free of death-duty, were to go to the Prince's “faithful companion, Mme la baronne de Feucheres”, as well as the chateaux and estates of Boissy, Enghien, Montmorency, Mortefontaine, and Saint-Leu-Taverny, the pavilion in the Palais-Bourbon, and the Prince's furniture, carriages, and horses.

Charles X received her at court, Talleyrand visited her, her niece married a marquis Hugues de Chabannes La Palice, and her nephew was made a baron.

[1] Condé, wearied by his mistress's importunities, and depressed after the July Revolution and the subsequent exile of the King, made up his mind to leave France secretly.