Catherine Davies

Catherine Davies (1773 – after 1841), was a Welsh governess and autobiographer. She served as governess to the children of the King and Queen of Naples, Joachim Murat and Caroline Bonaparte. Davies later sold her story in a book in 1841. Life Davies was born in Beaumaris, Wales, in 1773. The family was poor, and she was brought up by a foster family in Liverpool until she left to live with her sister, who was married to an artist in London. After the Peace of Amiens in 1802, she left for Paris in France, employed in the household of an English woman, a Mrs Boyd. Some months later, when the hostilities between Great Britain and France was resumed, the English family with whom she was employed was kept in France as enemy citizens. They cut down on their expenses, and therefore secured new positions for their staff. Paris Catherine Davies was employed by Caroline Bonaparte, the younger sister of Napoleon Bonaparte, who had expressed a wish to have English people employed to look after her children. During the following years, as the employee in the household of Napoleon's sister, she stated that witnessed many historical events. She met Napoleon at least once. He did not like the fact that his sister had two "English" women employed because of the risk that they would act a spies. Davies reports that Napoleon asked her if she liked The French as well as the English. When she replied that she would be a hypocrite if she said that she did, but that she liked all people who were kind to her, he answered that he liked her because of her honesty. Naples In 1808, Caroline and her spouse were appointed to be the Queen and King of Naples, and Davies continued in their employ; first engaged to look after their son, Prince Achille Murat, she was reassigned to look after princess Louisa when Achille reached the age of seven. It is from this year onward that Davies's story focus. In her autobiography Davies says that she did not publish an account of her life in Paris before 1808, as others had described the events of Parisian life during those years so well.