10 September 2013

Madame d'Oettlinger (last observed in 1815)

Madame d'Oettlinger or Baroness d'Oettlinger was the name used by a woman who was talked about as one of the agents of Napoleon. She was rumored to have played a part in the fall of Duke of Enghien, and of spying on the Swedish monarch during his stay in Germany.

During 1803 to 1805, King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden visited Karlsruhe in Germany to negotiate with the exiled French royalists and Bourbon family. The city was filled with French spies, among which d'Oettlinger was pointed out as the most dangerous. She was said to have had a relationship with the Duke of Enghien, who was executed by Napoleon, and presented herself as a French exiled royalist, devastated over the death of her lover Enghien. 


It was noted that she appeared before the Countess Gyldenstolpe dressed in mourning. She was described as a witty beauty with great charm and was greatly popular in the city's high society circles. 

She met with the Swedish monarch and with the royal secretaries, Gustaf Lagerbjelke and Carl Aron Ehrengranat, both of whom fell in love with her, and managed to acquire the king's documents regarding his plans toward Napoleon.

Upon the arrival of d'Oettlinger in Karlsruhe, the Swedish Countess Caroline Lewenhaupt, then living in Strassburg, wrote to her friend Countess Gyldenstolpe:

"You will soon see the arrival in Karlsruhe of a certain Baroness d'Oettlinger, to high degree accommodating and witty. She will delight you all; she will estimate literature and the fine arts as the Countess Oxenstierna; she will talk to you of fashion and other things; she will by her beauty twist the heads of your men: but beware of her! She is believed to be a tool in the hands of the highest Police. She is dangerous."

She was reportedly in the service of Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-PĂ©rigord. By her great personal ability to win people over, she had made contact with the secret consort of Enghien, Charlotte Louise de Rohan, by her alleged admiration of Enghien. There were rumors that she played a part in the fall of Enghien. She was chosen for the task in Karlsruhe because of the sympathy the Swedish monarch was known to feel toward Enghien. She was last observed in 1815.

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