Yolande Duvernay - Part 1

Welcome to Heroine City, the podcast shining a light on women in history in all their glorious shapes and forms.

In episode 17, we are discussing Yolande Duvernay, later Yolande Lyne-Stephens. Born in Versaille in December 1812, Yolande led an extraordinary life from a petit rat at the Paris Opera to heiress of one of the greatest non-aristocratic fortunes in Victorian England. In 1833 Duvernay danced at the Theatre Royal, London, where the young William Makepeace Thackeray described her as a ‘vision of loveliness’. Famous for her beauty and talent, she was infamous as the heiress to the Lyne Stephen’s fortune, with wealth to rival Queen Victoria. As a Parisian courtesan, the press had a field day when the heir to the Lyne-Stephens family fortune married his French dancer-mistress. Press attention continued after her husband died and, as his widow, she fought protracted court battles with extended family to keep her wealth and allowances while part of a scandalous throuple.

Jenifer Roberts is the author of Duvernay's biography, "The Beauty of Her Age,' a book that Julien Fellow described as 'a fascinating study of the power of money in nineteenth-century society.’ Jenifer Roberts joins host Lynsey Shaw to discuss Yolande's life and sex, scandal and money in 19th century France and England.

Warning: Contains discussion of abuse and sexual exploitation.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.