Bertrand-Dillon, Fanny (1785-1836)

Bertrand-Dillon, Fanny

NOBLEMAN (FRANCE)

BORN 25 Jul 1785, Gognies-Chaussée, Wallonia: Château de Gontreuil - DIED 6 Mar 1836, Saint-Maur, Indre: Château de Laleu
BIRTH NAME Dillon, Élisabeth Françoise
CAUSE OF DEATH cancer
GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Père Lachaise, Rue du Repos 16 (Division 13, Carrefour du Grand Rond, ligne 03 (M: W-22))

Fanny Dillon was the daughter of the Irish general in French service Arthur Dillon. Her mother Laure de Girardin de Montgérald was a creole from Martinique who had an affair with Alexandre de Beauharnais when she was still married to her first husband Alexandre-Francois Le Vassor de la Touche de Longpre (1744-1779). Laure was a cousin of empress Joséphine. Her father died under the guillotine in 1794 when she was eight years old. After that she lived with her mother in England with Lady Frances Jenningham, the sister of Dillon.

Encouraged by empress Joséphine she returned to France with her mother in 1802. She was tall and attractive and after she was introduced to Napoleon's court, general Henri Gatien Bertrand became her suitor. Napoleon himself presented his proposal of marriage. She refused because she wanted to marry Prince Alfonso Pignatelli d'Aragona. Napoleon pressed her further to marry Bertrand and in 1808 forced her to do so. It became a happy marriage, and they had five children.

In 1814 Bertrand accompanied Napoleon to Elba and Fanny followed. She was left behind when Bertrand left Elba with Napoleon for France. On 22 March 1815 she left Elba alone. After she arrived in France she was arrrested immediately and taken to Toulon. After that she was imprisoned at the Château d'If in Marseille. It took Masséna sometime before she was released in 12 April 1815.

Bertrand, Fanny and their three children were with Napoleon on the HMS Bellerophon when Napoleon heard he would be exiled to St. Helena. It was clear that Bertrand wanted to accompany him, and she would have to go as well. She made a scene and tried to jump overboard. After their son Arthur was born on St. Helena in 1817, she presented him to Napoleon as the only Frenchman who had entered St. Helena without the permission of Governor Hudson Lowe.

She hated St. Helena and asked her husband to leave the island, but Napoleon convinced Bertrand to stay. After she miscarried and almost died, Napoleon agreed that they would depart, shortly before he died with Fanny and her husband at his bedside. Later she claimed that Napoleon had wanted her to be his mistress, which she had refused. In October 1821 Bertrand was granted amnesty in France and his property was restored to him. They returned to France, where she fell ill in 1833. She died in 1836 of cancer at the Château de Laleuf in Saint-Maur, Indre at the age of fifty-one. She was buried in the grave of her mother at Père Lachaise in Paris.

Family
• Mother: Girardin de Montgérald, Laure, Comtesse de la Touche

Related persons
• is family of Beauharnais, Joséphine de
• knew Napoleon I Bonaparte

Images
The grave of Laure Girardin de Montgérald and Fanny Bertrand-Dillon at the Cimetière du Père Lachaise, Paris. Picture by Androom (08 Feb 2025)	The grave of Laure Girardin de Montgérald and Fanny Bertrand-Dillon at the Cimetière du Père Lachaise, Paris. Picture by Androom (08 Feb 2025)