Marie-Anne Walewska one after another of the ladies at court, but she remained his only serious mistress until their relationship ended in 1861. Walewska succeeded Pauline de Bassano as "dame d'honneur" in 1868. Marie-Anne Walewska Marie-Anne Walewska (1823–1912), was a French courtier and royal mistress. She is known for her relationship to emperor Napoleon III of France in 1857–1861. She served as "dame d'honneur" to empress Eugénie de Montijo in 1868–1870. She was born to the Italian count Zanobi di Ricci and princess Isabelle Poniatowski-Luci (illegitimate daughter of the last king of Poland's nephew). She married the Polish count (later duke) Alexandre
Marie Bjelke Petersen book "The Captive Singer" is about Mills. She was not necessarily a lesbian however, or at least not seen as such in her own time; close sentimental women's friendships were still not assumed to be sexual in 1920s Australia. In 1892, her brother Lt Col Hans Christian Bjelke-Petersen founded the Bjelke-Petersen Physical Culture School. (He is credited with building Australia's first squash court, shortly after World War I.) Marie was in charge of the women's section and taught there and at other schools before turning to writing in 1910 when injury meant she could no longer teach. In the mid-1890s,