The Duchess of Dino - A Life of Dorothea of Courland, Mistress to Tallyrand

London: Collins. Very Good in Very Good- dust jacket. 1962. First Edition. Hardcover. 382 pages; Contents clean and secure in original bright red cloth binding in edgeworn dustjacket. The unique and fascinating life of Talleyrand’s niece, Dorothea Courland, Duchess of Dino, will grab readers’ attention and hold it fast. This first English-language biography of the Duchess paints a portrait of an intelligent, strikingly beautiful, proud, and ferociously loyal woman. She served as Talleyrand’s constant companion, taking on some of his social and political burdens when he grew too old to bear them alone. Talleyrand was even assumed to have been the father of her last child. This is a gripping character study of one of the most influential women of the 19th century. Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754 – 1838), 1st Prince of Benevento, then Prince of Talleyrand, was a French secularised clergyman, statesman and leading diplomat. He was Napoleon's chief diplomat during the years when French military victories brought one European state after another under French hegemony. However, most of the time, Talleyrand worked for peace so as to consolidate France's gains. He succeeded in obtaining peace with Austria through the 1801 Treaty of Lunéville and with Britain in the 1802 Treaty of Amiens. He resigned as foreign minister in August 1807, but retained the trust of Napoleon. He conspired to undermine the emperor's plans through secret dealings with Tsar Alexander I of Russia and the Austrian minister Metternich. Talleyrand sought a negotiated secure peace so as to perpetuate the gains of the French Revolution. Napoleon rejected peace; when he fell in 1814, Talleyrand supported the Bourbon Restoration decided by the Allies. He played a major role at the Congress of Vienna in 1814–1815, where he negotiated a favourable settlement for France and played a role in unwinding the Napoleonic wars. .