Cécile Carnot

Marie Pauline Cécile Carnot née White (July 20, 1841 – September 30, 1898) was the wife of Marie François Sadi Carnot, the President of France from 1887 until his assassination in 1894.

Mme. Sadi Carnot, from an 1895 publication.

Illustration of Mme. Carnot distributing gifts to poor children on Christmas Day, from an 1894 publication.

She was born in Paris, the daughter of Charles Brook Dupont-White and Cécile Olympe Corbie. Her father was an economist. She was married to Marie François Sadi Carnot in 1863.[1]

As first lady, Cécile Carnot devoted a lot of her time to representation in public and entertaining at the Presidential Palace. She hosted three balls annually and arranged garden parties at which she introduced tennis. She regarded representation as an important part in the political career for her spouse. In 1889 she introduced the annual Christmas dinner for poor children, which became a tradition ever since.[2]

She played a political role when she negotiated with Georges Ernest Boulanger, preventing a coup. After her husband's assassination, she lived in seclusion. She had four children, a daughter Claire and three sons, Sadi, Ernest, and François.[1] She died in 1898, aged 57 years.

Poet George Williamson wrote a poem, "To Mme Sadi Carnot, On the Death of her Husband, Late President of France" (1894).[3] A variety of rose was named in her memory.[4]

References

1. "In the Public Eye" Munsey's Magazine (October 1895): 38.
2. "History of the Elysée Palace" Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly (July 1894): 272.
3. George Williamson, Gleanings of Leisure Hours (International Publishing 1894): 28-29.
4. Brent C. Dickerson, The Old Rose Advisor (iUniverse 2001): 630. ISBN 9780595172931