Quick Facts
Biography
Alexandrine Charlotte "Rosalie" de Rohan-Chabot, the duchesse de La Rochefoucauld, was the lover of U.S. ambassador William Short, the "adoptive son" of Thomas Jefferson. She was a member of the aristocracy during the French Revolution and witnessed firsthand the violence during the infamous Reign of Terror, with the assassination of her husband and the execution of her brother.
William and Rosalie’s love affair was recorded in hundreds of letters, which document the lovers' pains of separation and their frustration with social norms. Likewise, their words of devotion are especially poetic and moving. The love letters are an authentic literary contribution, and offer delightful personal insights into a turbulent era of world history.
Though their affair was long and storied, she would eventually marry a kinsman, Boniface Louis Andre, Marquis de Castellane in 1810.