Pepa Pollet

When Eugenie married Napoleon III in 1853, Pollet was appointed treasurer to the empress.[1] She was the only Spaniard employed by the Spanish-born empress. She was the intermediary between the empress and the tradesmen, and responsible for all her expenditure. She guarded Eugenies' jewels and supervised her dressing. She was responsible for everything concerning Eugenies personal household and female staff.

Pollet was described as a diminutive and pale woman with a bad health, timid but irritable temper and with a strong Spanish accent, who was fiercely loyal to the empress. She was ridiculed and exposed to some hostility because her influence on the empress, but Eugenie always defended her. [2] Her temperament often caused quarrels and domestic disputes among the staff, but Eugenie was so devoted to her that she accepted to have to mediate in these disputes.[3] Despite her influence, Pollet was not known to have used it for political gain, as Eugenie refused any of her female staff to speak with her of politics.[4] She was accused of abusing her position for her personal gain. She reportedly used her connections with the tradesmen of the empress to amass a fortune of two million franc.[5]

She accompanied Eugenie to England after the fall of the Third Empire in 1870. However, the English climate was not good for her health, so she returned to France, where she died not long after her arrival.