Madame du Barry

Jeanne Bécu
Countess of Barry
Portrait by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, 1782.
Born	Jeanne Bécu 19 August 1743 Vaucouleurs, Kingdom of France
Died	8 December 1793 (aged 50) Paris, French First Republic
Buried	Madeleine Cemetery
Spouse	Comte Guillaume du Barry ​ ​ (m. 1768)​
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Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse du Barry (19 August 1743 – 8 December 1793) was the last maîtresse-en-titre of King Louis XV of France. She was executed by guillotine during the French Revolution on accusations of treason—particularly being suspected of assisting émigrés to flee from the Revolution. She is also known as “Mademoiselle Vaubernier”.

In 1768, when the king wished to make Jeanne maîtresse-en-titre, etiquette required her to be the wife of a high courtier, so she was hastily married on 1 September 1768 to Comte Guillaume du Barry. The wedding ceremony was accompanied by a false birth certificate, created by Jean-Baptiste du Barry, the comte's older brother. The certificate made Jeanne appear younger by three years and obscured her poor background. Henceforth, she was recognized as the king's official paramour.^[1]

Her arrival at the French royal court scandalized some, as she had been a courtesan and came from humble beginnings. She was shunned by many, including Marie Antoinette, whose contempt for Jeanne caused alarm and dissension at court. On New Year's Day 1772, Marie Antoinette deigned to speak to Jeanne; her remark, "There are many people at Versailles today",^[2] was enough to take the edge off the dispute, though many still disapproved of Jeanne.

Decades later, during the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution, Jeanne was imprisoned over accusations of treason by her slave Zamor. She was executed by guillotine on 8 December 1793. Her body was buried in the Madeleine cemetery. The fabulous gems which she had smuggled to London were sold at auction in 1795.