The strange career of the Chevalier d'Eon de Beaumont

The biography chronicles the Chevalier's rise through court service and secret diplomatic networks, recounting missions, espionage, and clashes with official envoys while assessing contradictory memoirs and archival records. The author assembles letters, official papers, portraits, and facsimiles to reconstruct political intrigue surrounding the secret correspondence of Louis XV, highlight disputes over the subject's conduct and claims, and weigh contemporary and later accounts against primary documents. The narrative balances anecdote and documentary evidence to map a public career entwined with persistent personal mysteries that shaped reputation and controversy.