Cléo de Merode

Cleopatra Diane de Merode was a famous Parisian dancer of Belgian noble descent. In the rumor mill, she was romantically linked with King Leopold II of the Belgians, but the gossip was unsubstantiated. She was born in 1875. At the age of 8, she entered the Opera School of Ballet in Paris, made her professional debut at 11, and soon became a rising star. She was also a reigning beauty, pioneering a new hairstyle that rapidly became the height of fashion (Belgian King Albert I later playfully joked about it). She attracted many admirers, and gained the reputation of a courtesan.

During the 1890's, rumors flared up that the aging Leopold II, who had many mistresses, had fallen in love with the charming young ballerina. Satirical drawings mocked the pair, and the King was dubbed "Cléopold." The Belgian monarch was fairly indifferent to scandal, but poor Cléo was mortified. She vehemently denied the allegations, even launching a court case to clear her name. Those familiar with the King's private life (such as Xavier Paoli, an agent of the French police who protected Leopold during his visits to France) likewise dismissed the gossip. In his memoirs, Paoli told an amusing story of Leopold meeting Cléo, (after the rumors had already circulated widely), for the first time. "Allow me to express my regrets," the King told her, " if the good fortune people attribute to me has offended you at all. Alas, we no longer live in an age when a king's favor was not looked upon as compromising! Besides, I am only a little king."

Unfortunately, the reputation of the royal mistress pursued Cléo for the rest of her life. Nonetheless, her career continued brilliantly, as she won acclaim for her performances across Europe and the United States. At the height of her popularity, she took the risk of dancing at the Folies Bergères, a taboo for elite dancers. She attracted a whole new audience. Meanwhile, her beauty inspired painters Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Gustav Klimt, Charles Puyo and Alfredo Muller, and the sculptor Alexandre Falguière. She was considered one of the most glamorous women of her time, even appearing on postcards and playing cards. In 1955, she published her memoirs, Le Ballet de ma Vie, again attempting to defend her reputation. She passed away in 1966.

Blanche Delacroix, "Baroness Vaughan"

Blanche Zélie Josephine Delacroix (1883-1948) was a young Parisian courtesan who became the mistress and, eventually, the morganatic second wife of King Leopold II of the Belgians. She was a woman of the people, dark, handsome in a coarse way, no raving beauty, but lively and charming. Leopold, nearly 50 years her senior, met Blanche, otherwise known as "Caroline", when she was 16 years old, and fell madly in love with her. It seemed to be the first time that the King, infamous for his disastrous marriage and long series of casual affairs, had become deeply attached to a woman.

Cold and miserly with his wife and daughters, he lavished endearments, gifts and properties upon the girl. To the great scandal of the Belgians and the court, he eventually titled her, unofficially, "Baroness Vaughan." To Blanche, the King was probably initially merely a conquest beyond her wildest dreams, but, on her side, too, genuine affection appears to have developed. In her memoirs, she lamented that she and Leopold's valet were the only ones to mourn the death of the violently unpopular King in 1909.

After the death of Queen Marie-Henriette, in 1902, the King gave his mistress a luxurious villa in Laeken. Strangely down-to-earth, she diligently looked after the books and accounts, presiding over her establishment like a bourgeois housewife. During this period, she bore two sons, Lucien (b. 1906) and Philippe (b. 1907). Although their paternity has never been definitively established, the King eagerly accepted them as his own. For decades, he had been tormented by his lack of a male heir, and now, in the evening of his life, he was overjoyed to have two boys in rapid succession. Abandoning his normally glacial, haughty stance, he doted on the children.

At some point, Leopold married Blanche in a secret, religious ceremony. The most widely accepted version is that the wedding took place at Laeken during the King's final illness. At the eleventh hour, Leopold wanted to save his soul by regularizing his union with Blanche and receiving the Last Rites. He was 74, his bride 26.

The King left much of his fortune to Blanche, providing for her for the rest of her life. Leopold's daughters, and, indeed, Belgian public opinion, were outraged by this settlement, but could do nothing to prevent it. The young woman departed Belgium in triumph, and began a new life. In 1910, she re-married. Her new husband was Antoine Durrieux, one of her long-standing admirers, who adopted her sons. Philippe (unofficially titled "Count of Ravenstein") died in 1914, Lucien ("Duke of Tervueren") in 1984.

Today, nothing remains of the notorious Madame Vaughan, once the talk of Belgium, except a few faded photographs...sic transit gloria mundi.

References:

Charles d'Ydewalle. Albert and the Belgians: Portrait of a King. 2005.
Xavier Paoli. Their Majesties as I Knew Them. 1911.

Patrick Weber. Amours royales et princières. 2006.