Harriette Dubouchet who was one of the most famous courtesans of the 19th century.She began her career (?) at the age of fifteen, by becoming the mistress of the Earl of Craven.
Many famous men entered the bed of Harriette and many more sought it out. She became a fashion icon of her time, and was known to be very picky when it came to what to wear, on both her and her men.
But fame and beauty can not last forever, So Harriette took off her drawers off for the very last time in May 1819.
Unfortunately in keeping the lifestyle she had become accustomed to, she began to incur debts. So she decided to write a “kiss and tell” memoir of all the famous men she had slept with. She sent letters to everyone mentioned in her memoir asking for £200 to have their names removed. This caused more than a few sleepless nights for the men involved.
Her decision to write it was partly based on the broken promises of her lovers to provide her with an income in her older age.
One of the people who refused to pay for her silence was the celebrated Duke of Wellington who famously said to her, “publish and be damned.”
Undeterred she published the memoir, and next to the Duke of Wellington’s name was written, “[he] has sighed over me and groaned over me by the hour…”
She became very devout towards the end of her life and died in 1845.