Mme. (Jeanne-Louise-Henriette) Campan

Born Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Genet in Paris in 1752, Madame Campan was a French educator, writer, and court attendant. She served for more than two decades at Versailles, eventually becoming Marie Antoinette’s first lady’s maid, and witnessed the final years of the French monarchy.

After the Revolution, she established a school at Saint-Germain-en-Laye. In 1807, Napoleon appointed her director of the Maison d’Éducation de la Légion d’honneur at Écouen, where she developed her ideas about the education of girls.

Her best-known work, Memoirs of the Private Life of Marie Antoinette, was published after her death in 1822. She also wrote On the Education of Women and other instructional works, leaving behind an important personal record of the royal court and a lasting contribution to French education.