When we open the history books, we realize to what extent the presidential function, in France as elsewhere, can be a dangerous exercise. Many heads of state have been assassinated while in office, like John Fitzgerald Kennedy in the United States, shot dead on November 22, 1963, or Sadi Carnot, stabbed in Lyon on June 24, 1894. And then there is Félix Faure, also killed in office. Broken down by a brutal fellatio.
At least this is what a widely spread legend assures us, which has brought into posterity this President of the French Republic who served from 1895 to 1899. Simple legend or historical truth? To find out, we have to go back into the annals.
“Meg”, Élysée and AVC
Let’s go back to the chronology of events. Félix Faure becomes president of the IIIe Republic on January 17, 1895, after the surprise resignation of Jean Casimir-Perier, who had taken over from Sadi Carnot but only remained in office for six months. His mandate was somewhat stormy, shaken in particular by the Dreyfus affair and the rise of anti-Semitism. Four years passed, until the fateful date of February 16, 1899. President Faure, then aged 58, died suddenly at the Élysée, officially of cerebral congestion (today called a cerebrovascular accident or stroke).
A fact immediately attracts attention, particularly from the press. Félix Faure was not alone at the time of his death: he was in the company of his mistress. A certain Marguerite “Meg” Steinheil, then wife of a painter appreciated in official circles. This presence immediately attracts attention… and speculation.
This is where historical reality gives way to myth. If some speak of poisoning by Dreyfusards (Félix Faure having a rather anti-Dreyfusard position), one rumor in particular quickly gained momentum, relayed by the press and witticisms. Félix Faure would have died of a stroke, which would have been the result of a fatal “treat” provided by his young mistress. A discomfort at an inopportune moment, which would potentially have been aggravated by Yse dragees, stimulants then in vogue at the time and based on zinc phosphide, but today recognized as dangerous for health.
Worse: seeing President Faure suffocating, “Meg” would have run away after calling for help, leaving her corset behind. The wildest rumors even claim that the lover’s hair had to be cut, as it remained clutched in the tense hands of the deceased.
“He wanted Caesar to live, Pompey died”
The rumor spread in no time, widely relayed by the satirical press of the time, which paid tribute to this president who supposedly died during fellatio. For example, Le Journal du peuple wrote on February 22 that he died after having “sacrificed too much to Venus”while Marguerite Steinheil, the mistress, was quickly nicknamed the “funeral director”. Even more famous, Georges Clemenceau, his political rival, blurted out: “He wanted Caesar to live, Pompey died.” The taste for a good word.
🗓 February 16, 1899: death of the President of the Republic Félix Faure in gallant company, Marguerite Steinheil, soon nicknamed the Funeral Director.
💬 Anthology of cruel words on this death passed down to posterity: https://t.co/BU5r7oXq4s pic.twitter.com/goxhOXo47k— History in quotes (@HistoCita) February 16, 2024
What is it really? Beyond fantasies, reality is simpler. Félix Faure died of cerebral congestion, which did not kill him instantly, but a few hours later, without any proof of any link with a sexual act. Popular imagination will still have allowed Félix Faure to be one of the best-known presidents of the IIIe Republic, but not for its political action.
This tragic destiny also allowed him to enter a very closed circle of these leaders, who died, according to legend, in a totally crazy way. Just between Charles VIII, King of France, who died in 1498 after violently hitting a stone lintel while passing through a door at the Château d’Amboise; and Mathilde of Teschen, Archduchess of Austria, died of her injuries in 1867 after setting her dress on fire while trying to hide a cigarette behind her back, to avoid her father’s reprimands. Without forgetting Wan Hu, senior Chinese official of the Ming Empire of the 16the century, who allegedly attempted to reach the Moon by attaching forty-seven rockets to a chair. Once the fuse was lit, no one ever saw him again.
And Marguerite Steinheil, Félix Faure’s fatal mistress? Life had other surprises in store for him, no less disastrous. In 1908, her husband and mother were found murdered. Yet another case in which she went from the status of victim to that of accused, before she was finally acquitted. It will end its existence until July 1954 in England, far from the Élysée.
