Première dame d'honneur (, ), or simply dame d'honneur (), was an office at the royal court of France. It existed in nearly all French courts from the 16th-century onward. Though the tasks of the post shifted, the dame d'honneur was normally the first or second rank of all ladies-in-waiting. The dame d'honneur was selected from the members of the highest French nobility.
History The office was created in 1523.Caroline zum Kolk, "The Household of the Queen of France in the Sixteenth Century", in: The Court Historian; vol. 14, number 1, June 2009
The term Dame d'honneur has also been used as a general term for a (married) French lady-in-waiting. Initially, the married ladies-in-waiting who attended the queen of France had the title Dame. This was simply the title of a married lady-in-waiting, who was not the principal lady-in-waiting.
From 1523, the group of 'Dame' (married) ladies-in-waiting who attended the court as companions of the queen had the formal title Dame d'honneur ('Lady of Honour', commonly only 'Dame'), hence the title 'Première dame d'honneur' ('First lady of honour') to distinguish between the principal lady-in-waiting and the group of remaining (married) ladies-in-waiting.Caroline zum Kolk, "The Household of the Queen of France in the Sixteenth Century", in: The Court Historian, vol. 14, number 1, June 2009 In 1674, the position of Fille d'honneur was abolished, and the 'Dames' were renamed Dame du Palais.Jeroen Frans Jozef Duindam: Vienna and Versailles: The Courts of Europe's Dynastic Rivals, 1550-1780. Thus, the title Dame d'honneur was henceforth reserved for one office holder.
Tasks The task of the dame d'honneur was to supervise the female courtiers, control the budget, order necessary purchases, and organize the annual account and staff list; she supervised the daily routine and attended both ordinary and ceremonial court functions, as well as escorting and introducing those seeking audience with the queen.Nadine Akkerman & Birgit Houben, eds. The Politics of Female Households: Ladies-in-waiting across Early Modern Europe. Leiden: Brill, 2013 She had the keys to the queen's personal rooms in her possession.
When the Dame d'honneur was absent, she was replaced by the Dame d'atour, who normally had the responsibility of overseeing the queen's wardrobe and jewelry in addition to dressing the queen.
In 1619, the office of the Surintendante de la Maison de la Reine, or simply surintendante, was created. The surintendante had roughly the same tasks as the Dame d'honneur—receiving the oath of the female personnel before they took office, supervising the daily routine of the staff and the queen, organizing the accounts and staff list—but she was placed in rank above the dame d'honneur. Whenever the surintendante was absent, she was replaced by the dame d'honneur. The post of Surintendante could be left vacant for long periods, such as between the death of Marie Anne de Bourbon in 1741 and the appointment of Princess Marie Louise of Savoy in 1775.
Later history The position of Dame d'honneur was revived during the First Empire, when the principal lady-in-waiting to the empress held the same title.Philip Mansel: The Eagle in Splendour: Inside the Court of Napoleon
During the Second Empire, the dame d'honneur had the same position as before, but was now formally ranked second below a surintendante with the title Grande-Maîtresse.Seward, Desmond: Eugénie. An empress and her empire. (2004)
List of premières dames d'honneur to the queens and empresses of France Though the office was commonly only referred to as "Dame d'honneur", this list use the full title of "Première dame d'honneur".
Eleanor of Austria, 1530–1547 1530–1535 : Louise de Montmorency 1535–1538 : Jeanne d'Angoulême, dame de Givry Aline Roche, "Une perle de pris" : la maison de la reine Eléonore d’Autriche, Paris, Cour de France.fr, 2010. Article inédit publié en ligne le 1er octobre 2010 (http://cour-de-france.fr/article1646.html). 1538–1547 : Vacant
Catherine de' Medici, 1547–1589 1547–1560: Françoise de Brézé 1560–1561: Jacqueline de Longwy 1561–1578: Philippe de Montespedon 1578–1589: Alphonsine Strozzi, comtesse de Fiesque
Mary Stuart, 1559–1560 1559–1560: Guillemette de Sarrebruck
Elisabeth of Austria, 1570–1574 1570–1574: Madeleine of Savoy
Louise of Lorraine, 1575–1601 1575–1583: Jeanne de Dampierre 1583–1585: Louise de Cipierre (jointly with de Randan) 1583–1601: Fulvie de Randan (jointly with de Cipierre)
Marie de' Medici, 1600–1632 1600–1632: Antoinette de Pons
Anne of Austria, 1615–1666 For the first years in France, before her Spanish entourage was sent back to Spain, Anne had both a French and a Spanish office holder in several posts of her court.
1615–1618: Inés de la Torre (jointly with de Montmorency) 1615–1624: Laurence de Montmorency (jointly with de la Torre) 1624–1626: Charlotte de Lannoy 1626–1638: Marie-Catherine de Senecey 1638–1643: Catherine de Brassac 1643–1666: Marie-Claire de Fleix
Maria Theresa of Spain, 1660–1683 1660–1664: Susanne de Navailles 1664–1671: Julie de Montausier 1671–1679: Anne de Richelieu 1679–1683: Anne-Armande de Crequy
Marie Leszczyńska, 1725–1768 1725–1735: Catherine-Charlotte de Boufflers 1735–1763: Marie de Luynes 1751–1761: Henriette-Nicole Pignatelli d'Egmont, duchess de Chevreuse (deputy) 1763–1768: Anne de Noailles (first term)
Marie Antoinette, 1774–1792 1774–1775: d'Arpajon, Countess de Noailles (second term) 1775–1791: Laure Auguste de Fitz-James, Princess of Chimay 1791–1792: Geneviève de Gramont, Countess d'Ossun
Joséphine de Beauharnais, 1804–1814 1804–1809: Adélaïde de La Rochefoucauld
Marie Louise, 1810–1814 1810–1814: Louise Antoinette Lannes, Duchess of Montebello
Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily, 1830–1848 1830–1848: Christine-Zoë de Montjoye, marquise de DolomieuAlmanach royal
Eugénie de Montijo, 1853–1870 1853–1867: Pauline de Bassano 1867–1870: Marie-Anne Walewska
List of premières dames d'honneur to the dauphine of France The Household of the wife of the heir to the throne were normally appointed one year before the royal bride arrived to France, so that they could be a part of the royal welcome entourage.
Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria, 1680–1690 1679–1684: Anne de Richelieu
Marie Adélaïde of Savoy, 1711–1712 1711–1712: Marguerite Louise Susanne de Béthune, Duchess of Lude Mark Bryant:Queen of Versailles: Madame de Maintenon, First Lady of Louis XIV's France
Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain, 1744–1746 1744–1746: Marie-Angélique Frémyn de Moras, Duchess of Brancas
Maria Josepha of Saxony, Dauphine of France, 1747–1767 1746–1762: Marie-Angélique Frémyn de Moras, Duchess Brancas 1762–1767: Louise-Diane-Françoise de Clermont, Duchess of Brancas
Marie Antoinette, 1770–1774 1770–1774: Anne d'Arpajon, Countess of Noailles
Marie Thérèse of France, 1814–1830 1814–1823: Bonne Marie Félicité de Montmorency-Luxembourg, Duchess of Sérent 1823–1830: Anne-Félicité Simone de Sérent, Duchess of Damas-Crux Imbert de Saint-Amand, The Duchess of Berry and the court of Charles X. p. 97
See also Mistress of the Robes, British equivalent Camarera mayor de Palacio, Spanish equivalent Chief Court Mistress, Dutch, German, Scandinavian and Russian equivalent
References
Mathieu da Vinha & Raphaël Masson: Versailles: Histoire, Dictionnaire et Anthologie