Arcadie Claret , Baronin von Eppinghoven
Mistress of Leopold I of Belgium
Leopold also had two sons, George and Arthur, by a mistress, Arcadie Meyer (née Claret). George was born in 1849, and Arthur was born in 1852. At Leopold's request, in 1862 the two sons were created Freiherr von Eppinghoven by his nephew, Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; in 1863 Arcadie was also created Baronin von Eppinghoven.[18] Leopold I met Arcadie Claret in 1842 or at the latest in 1844. She was then only sixteen or eighteen and almost immediately became his mistress. He installed it luxuriously in a patrician house, Koningsstraat, Sint-Joost-ten-Node (now number 312). Because the king's love life did not go unnoticed and was extensively covered in the press, in 1845 he organized a marriage of convenience between Claret and his servant and friend, the Coburger Ferdinand Meyer ( Coburg 1808 - Karlsruhe 1864), who then ordered the children king had conceived with his mistress as his acknowledged. Meyer was a widower of Virginie Wouters (1819-1841) from whom he had three children.
The two sons of Leopold, Georg , born in Liege in 1849 and Christian , born in Laken in 1852, were registered as Meyer in the civil status documents.
This week's featured connections are French Notables: Arcadie is 6 degrees from Napoléon I Bonaparte, 12 degrees from Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, 10 degrees from Sarah Bernhardt, 30 degrees from Charlemagne Carolingian, 21 degrees from Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, 17 degrees from Pierre Curie, 20 degrees from Simone de Beauvoir, 17 degrees from Philippe Denis de Keredern de Trobriand, 11 degrees from Camille de Polignac, 14 degrees from Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière, 21 degrees from Claude Monet and 11 degrees from Aurore Dupin de Francueil on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.
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Categories: Royal Mistresses