LGBTQ+
Features
Transgender
SPY
A distinguished soldier and a cunning spy: The story of Europe’s first known openly transgender person
transgender spy enthralled Georgian England. As if being the first openly transgender person recorded in modern European history wasn’t interesting enough, the Chevalier (meaning ‘knight’) d’Éon also led a remarkable life as a decorated soldier, diplomat and spy. Charismatic, popular and fiercely intelligent, d’Éon fascinated the public. Born male in 1728, Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Timothée d’Éon de Beaumont came from Burgundy aristocracy.