Léopoldine Hugo

Léopoldine was born in Paris, the second of five children and eldest daughter of Victor Hugo and Adèle Foucher. She was named after her paternal grandfather, Joseph Léopold Sigisbert Hugo,[1] as was her late brother, Léopold, who died in infancy.

Despite her father's growing anti-clerical views, Léopoldine grew up as a devout Catholic. Her first communion, which took place in September 1836, was a grand affair. Auguste de Châtillon painted a portrait of her for the day, and the mass was attended by Théophile Gautier, Alexandre Dumas, and members of the Hugo family. A banquet was held at her family's Paris residence afterward.[2]

Léopoldine had many suitors for marriage including her future husband, Charles Vacquerie, whom she met while on holiday in 1839.[3]

She married Charles Vacquerie at Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis on 15 February 1843, but they both drowned together only a few months later, when their boat capsized on the Seine in Villequier on 4 September 1843. She was 19 years old and pregnant and she died when her wet, heavy skirts pulled her down, and her husband died trying to save her. This tragic event had a great impact on the work and personality of her father, Victor Hugo. He dedicated numerous poems to the memory of his daughter, notably Demain dès l'aube and À Villequier in Pauca Meae, the fourth book of Les Contemplations. Victor Hugo did not write for several years afterwards owing to the clinical depression he developed following Léopoldine's death.

• (in French) Complete text of Contemplations, on Wikisource
• (in French) The Maison Vacquerie, in Villequier, houses the departemental Museum of Victor Hugo
• Reely's Poetry Pages Hear "Demain, des l'aube"
• Léopoldine – Série Noire (Swiss popband) Video on YouTube, musical version of the poem "Demain, dès l'aube," written by Léopoldine's father Victor Hugo