Nelly de Vogüé


Nelly de Vogüé
Drawing of Madame de Vogüé by Saint-Exupéry
BornHélène Marie Henriette von Jaunez
(1908-11-28)28 November 1908
Paris, France
Died17 June 2003(2003-06-17) (aged 94)
Paris, France
Pen namePierre Chevrier
Occupationwriter, painter, socialite, businesswoman
EducationÉcole des Beaux-Arts de Paris
Genrebiography
SpouseCount Jean de Vogüé
PartnerCount Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Children1
ParentsMaximilian von Jaunez (father)
Jeanne de Montagnac (mother)
RelativesÉdouard von Jaunez (grandfather)

Countess Hélène "Nelly" Marie Henriette de Vogüé (French pronunciation: [elɛn maʁi ɑ̃ʁjɛt vɔɡɥe]; née von Jaunez; 28 November 1908 – 17 June 2003) was a French aristocrat, socialite, businesswoman, painter, and writer. She studied art at the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris before succeeding her father as president of Haviland France, her family's ceramics company.

During World War II, de Vogüé was surveilled by the Allied Intelligence Bureau after her ability to move freely, using various aliases, between Allied and Axis territories raised suspicions. The Office of Strategic Services filed over seventeen pages in reports detailing their suspicion that de Vogüé may have been an agent of Vichy France and a Nazi collaborator.

She was the long-time mistress of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and was referred to as Madame de B. in his biographies and as The Beautiful E in the memoirs of Consuelo de Saint-Exupéry. Following de Saint-Exupéry's presumed death in 1944, de Vogüé became the executrix of his literary works and, under the nom de plume Pierre Chevrier, authored his biography in 1949. She published the posthumous editions of de Saint-Exupéry's manuscripts for Écrits de guerre, Citadelle, and Carnets. She submitted her collection of de Saint-Exupéry's writings to the Archives Nationales, where they will be privately held until 2053.