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
Joan Denise Moriarty and his wife, Marion (née McCarthy); John Francis Moriarty, Lord Justice of the Court of Appeal in Ireland, was her uncle. The Moriartys were originally from Mallow, County Cork, where her grandfather John Moriarty was a successful solicitor. Moriarty was brought up in England, possibly in Leeds, or Liverpool, where she was living in the 1930s. She studied ballet until her early teens with Dame Marie Rambert. How long she was enrolled in the Rambert School is not known, as there are no records of students, but only of performers, but her training there was referenced by Dame Ninette de