Fanny de Beauharnais

• Name — Fanny de Beauharnais • Father — François-Abraham-Marie Mouchard, Seigneur de la Garde • Mother — Anne-Louise Lazur • Spouse — Claude de Beauharnais • Birth Name — Marie-Anne-Françoise Mouchard de la Garde • Birthplace — Paris, France • Died — 2 July 1813 • Place of death — Paris, France

The daughter François Abraham Mouchard, Seigneur de la Garde (1712-1782), receiver-general of finances in Champagne, and his wife, Anne Louise Lazur (d. 1740). Whilst very young she was married to Comte Claude de Beauharnais, uncle of Alexandre de Beauharnais and of François de Beauharnais. She was godmother to Hortense de Beauharnais, Alexandre's daughter by Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de la Pagerie, better known to history as Joséphine. She wrote poetry from her childhood onwards and, after separating from her husband, devoted herself to literature, became friends with literary figures such as Claude Joseph Dorat and Michel de Cubières-Palmézeaux. Her salon became a choice social venue, and she became a member of the Académie des Arcades. In 1787 she wrote and put on a five-act prose comedy entitled la Fausse inconstance, though it was not a success. In 1790 she was received into the Académie de Lyon. Her detractors attributed her work to Dorat and other friends of hers. The Marquise de Créquy, in her Souvenirs, adjudged that Lebrun had very rudely and unjustly applied to her an old epigram of Pavillon about Charlotte-Rose de Caumont La Force: Eglé, belle et poète, a deux petits travers: Elle fait son visage et ne fait pas ses vers.[Eglé, beautiful and poetic, has two little faults: She makes her face and does not make her verses]

On 6 March 1753, she married Claude de Beauharnais and their children were: • Claude de Beauharnais, 2nd Count des Roches-Baritaud (1756–1819). • Françoise de Beauharnais (La Rochelle, 7 September 1757 – Sézanne, 24 June 1822), married on 1 May 1778 her first cousin François VI de Beauharnais, 2nd marquis de La Ferté-Beauharnais, 3rd comte des Roches-Baritaud, baron de Beauville, seigneur de Beaumont et de Bellechauve (La Rochelle, 2 August 1756 – Paris, 3 March 1846) • Anne de Beauharnais (1760–1831)

• Mélanges de poésies fugitives et de prose sans conséquence (Paris, 1772, 2 vol. in-8°) • Lettres de Stéphanie, historical novel (Paris, 1773, in-8°) • l’Abailard supposé, novel (Paris, 1780, in-8°) • l’Île de la Félicité, philosophical poem (1801, in-8°) • le Voyage de Zizi et d’Azor, poem in 5 books (1811, in-8°).

Fanny de Beauharnais was recorded at birth as Marie Anne Francoise Mouchard de Chaban. The authorities additionally record the heading Marie-Anne-Françoise Mouchard. Her recorded language was French. She was the child of François Abraham Mouchard, Seigneur de la Garde and Anne Louise Lazur. She married Claude de Beauharnais. 2 children are recorded: Claude de Beauharnais and Marie Françoise de Beauharnais. Other recorded relations include François-Louis René Mouchard de Chaban.

Fanny de Beauharnais worked in poetry. She belonged to Arcadian Academy, Consistori del Gay Saber, Académie de Villefranche-en-Beaujolais and Club Breton.

Fanny de Beauharnais is recorded as poet, salonnière and writer.