The daughter of a seamstress, Jeanne Bécu could hardly imagine she would later become one of the most influential women of the Kingdom of France. Nor could she anticipate her quick fall and tragic death. The teenage girl was still a mere milliner's assistant when her beauty attracted the attention of Count Jean du Barry, a degenerate noble man who, after making her his mistress, undertook to make her Paris's most successful courtesan. Later, he realized that he could even help her to become one of aging King Louis XV's mistresses. But to qualify as a royal mistress, Jeanne had to be a married noble woman. No problem: Jean, who was already married, provided another husband, his brother Guillaume. This is how Jeanne, who had become Countess du Barry with sleight of hand, could enjoy triumph at Versailles. Unfortunately for her, her reign, which had excited the jealousy of the other courtesans, lasted only while the King was alive. Following his death, she was immediately exiled from Versailles and two decades later was executed on the guillotine.
—Guy Bellinger