This is Megan here! I've been dealing with a family emergency + lots of projects, and am needing to take a step back to recuperate and work on upcoming episodes.

So, this Notable Queer Person with an Astrological Sign (as Ryen and I call it) takes a look at the fascinating, gender fluid spy and French noble: The Chevalier d'Éon.

In case you haven't had a chance to check out my other podcast - These Old Queers - now is your chance. In this recent episode of the queer history podcast, Thomas and I are joined by my wife Elise in their first collaboratively written and researched episode on the life and times of The Chevalier d'Éon: a French diplomat and spy, who - assigned male at birth - openly lived as a woman for the latter part of their life.

Since this episode deals with some very French words, my very French wife Elise is handling much of the storytelling for this one!

Join us as we learn all about this "diplomatic pirate" whose story and variations on it have shaped popular culture all the way from Japanese manga to 80s pop music! Settle in for a tale full of 18th century diplomatic bitchery (pinkies out), French Grudges, and giant wigs with white horror show faces.

Content Warning: This episode discusses transphobia, please take care while listening.

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Sources:

Brown, Mark (6 June 2012). “Portrait mistaken for 18th-century lady is early painting of transvestite”. The Guardian. Archived from the original on 12 January 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2026.

The Chevalier d’Eon and his Worlds: Gender, Espionage and Politics in the Eighteenth Century, Simon Burrows, Jonathan Conlin, Russell Goulbourne and Valerie Mainz, eds. New York: Bloomsbury, 2010.

Delaney, Anthony. Queer Georgians: A Hidden History of Lovers, Lawbreakers and HomemakersChapter six on The Chevalier d’Eon. Penguin, 2025.

Fressin, Thomas. Convertisseur-monnaie-ancienne.fr. Tfressin.fr. Retrieved 15 August 2026.

Gary Kates Monsieur D’Eon Is a Woman: A Tale of Political Intrigue and Sexual Masquerade (BasicBooks, 1995; Johns Hopkins 2001

Homberg, Octave. (1911). D’Eon de Beaumont, his life and times. London, M. Secker.

Macabre London. “The Chevalier d’Eon: History’s First Trans Spy and Master of Disguise.” Macabre London podcast. 6.5.2025.

Morris, Marilyn (March 2019). “The Chevaliere d’Eon, Transgender Autobiography and Identity”. Gender & History. 31 (1): 78-90. doi:10.111/1468-0424.12405 – via Wiley Online Library.

Stoker, Bram. Famous Imposters. Project Gutenberg. Archived from the original on 2 March 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2026 – via gutenberg.org.

White, Antonia (trans.), The Memoirs of Chevalier D'Éon, London: Anthony Blond, 1970. (introduction by Robert Baldick)