Valentine de Laborde

Charlotte Marie Valentine Joséphine de Laborde, also known as Valentine Delessert (1 January 1806 – 13 May 1894) was a French socialite and a Passy-Paris salon holder. She is also known as a mistress of French writer Prosper Mérimée, French writer and photographer Maxime du Camp, and French politician and philosopher Charles de Remusat.

Life Valentine de Laborde was born on 1 January 1806. Her grandfather, Marquis Jean-Joseph de Laborde, was a famous banker, financier, real estate developer, textile merchant and slave trader, and her father, Count Alexandre de Laborde, was a director of the National Archives. On 1 June 1824, she married the banker Gabriel Delessert. He was a prefect of Seine police from 1836 to 1848. Merimee first met de Laborde in 1830, and being fascinated with her beauty and wit he started a courtship that lasted for six years until 16 February 1836 when she became his mistress. Their relationship was quite unstable and in 1844, de Laborde found a new lover, however it was not the final breakup. In 1848, Valentine followed her husband to England, as he had to go into exile after the abdication of Louis-Philippe, and from there sent only rare letters to Merimee. In the early 1850s she broke up with Merimee to become a mistress of another French writer Maxime du Camp, but soon left him for the politician Charles de Remusat.

Under the Second French Empire, de Laborde became a part of the entourage of the Empress Eugenie and held an eminent social position until her death.

Valentine de Laborde died on 13 May 1894 at the age of 88.