Philippe Cornu

Hortense Cornu (née Lacroix; 8 April 1809 – 16 May 1875) was a French socialite, salonnière, writer, and translator who played a significant role in the culture and politics of the French Second Empire. The goddaughter and foster-sister of Napoléon III, their lifelong relationship was his "closest and most lasting friendship with a woman." As an avowed Republican, she clashed with the Emperor over his authoritarianism and was estranged from him for a period of time after his 1851 coup d'état, bu…