Eliza Monroe Hay
{{Short description|American socialite}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Eliza Monroe Hay
| image = Eliza Kortright Monroe Hay.jpg
| alt =
| caption = portrait of Eliza Hay in the James Monroe Museum
| birth_name = Elizabeth Kortright Monroe
| birth_date = December 1786
| birth_place = Fredericksburg, Virginia, U.S.
| death_date = January 27, 1840 (aged 53)
| death_place = Paris, France
| burial_place = Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris
| other_names =
| occupation =
| parents = James Monroe
Elizabeth Monroe
| spouse = {{marriage|George Hay|1808|1830|end=d}}
| children = 1
| relatives = Maria Hester Monroe Gouverneur (sister)
| years_active =
| known_for = Acting as First Lady
| notable_works =
}}
Elizabeth Kortright Monroe Hay (December 1786 – January 27, 1840) was an American socialite who acted as unofficial First Lady during her father James Monroe's presidency, as her mother's health kept her away from many White House duties. She was married to prominent attorney George Hay.
Biography
Elizabeth “Eliza” Kortright Monroe was born to James Monroe and Elizabeth Monroe (née Kortright){{Cite book |last1=Schneider |first1=Dorothy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8M0pUjnH2LUC&dq=Eliza+Monroe+Hay&pg=PA35 |title=First Ladies: A Biographical Dictionary |last2=Schneider |first2=Carl J. |date=2010 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-2750-7 |pages=35–41 |language=en}} in December 1786 in Virginia. She spent much of her childhood in Paris during the French Revolution, when her father was the American minister to France. She attended school at Maison d'éducation de la Légion d'honneur, the school set up by Henriette Campan, a former lady-in-waiting to Marie Antionette. While at the school, Hay "befriended many women of European royal families", including Hortense de Beauharnais, daughter of Josephine de Beauharnais and future mother of Napoleon III.{{cite web|title=First Ladies Never Married to Presidents: Eliza Monroe Hay|url=http://www.firstladies.org/blog/first-ladies-never-married-to-presidents-eliza-monroe-hay/|last1=Anthony|first1=Carl|date=July 10, 2014|website=National First Ladies' Library|language=English|accessdate=29 December 2018}}
In 1803, at the age of 17, Hay returned with her family to the United States. By then, she was fluent in both French and English. In 1808, at the age of 22, she married attorney and judge George Hay, who was from Virginia.{{cite web |title=Eliza Monroe Hay |url=https://academics.umw.edu/jamesmonroepapers/biography/eliza-monroe-hay/ |website=University of Mary Washington |accessdate=December 29, 2018}}
James Monroe assumed the presidency in 1817, when Hay was 31. During his administration, she often acted as unofficial First Lady when her mother was ill. Hay was "primarily remembered for her domineering style and insistence that every iota of protocol be followed."{{cite book |last1=Quinn-Musgrove |first1=Sandra L. |last2=Kanter |first2=Sanford |title=America's Royalty: All the Presidents' Children |date=1995 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=9780313295355 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/americasroyaltya00quin_0/page/27 27-28] |url=https://archive.org/details/americasroyaltya00quin_0/page/27 }} Her "influence over her father was marked."{{cite book |last1=Morgan |first1=George |title=The Life of James Monroe |url=https://archive.org/details/lifejamesmonroe01morggoog |date=1921 |publisher=Small, Maynard |page=[https://archive.org/details/lifejamesmonroe01morggoog/page/n461 413]|isbn=9780404005948 }} She was also rumored to be snobbish, difficult to work with, and to have "an already high opinion of herself."{{cite book |last1=Ross |first1=Laura |last2=Harris |first2=Bill |title=First Ladies Fact Book -- Revised and Updated: The Childhoods, Courtships, Marriages, Campaigns, Accomplishments, and Legacies of Every First Lady from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama |date=2013 |publisher=Running Press |isbn=9781603763134}}{{cite book |last1=Steinberg |first1=Alfred |title=The First Ten: The Founding Presidents and Their Administrations |url=https://archive.org/details/firsttenfoundi00stei |url-access=registration |date=1967 |publisher=Doubleday |page=[https://archive.org/details/firsttenfoundi00stei/page/225 225]}} Louisa Adams described her as "so accomplished and ill bred", "so proud and mean" and as having "such a love for scandal that no reputation is safe in her hands". In the book Executive Privilege: Two Centuries of White House Scandals, writer Jack Mitchell refers to Hay as a snob and "a bit of a society bitch."{{cite book |last1=Mitchell |first1=Jack |title=Executive Privilege: Two Centuries of White House Scandals |date=1992 |publisher=Hippocrene Books |isbn=9780781800631 |page=[https://archive.org/details/executiveprivile00mitc/page/42 42] |url=https://archive.org/details/executiveprivile00mitc/page/42 }}
Hay and her husband had a daughter Hortensia, whose godmother was her mother's close friend Hortense de Beauharnais.{{cite book |last1=Hollingsworth Wharton |first1=Anne |title=Social Life in the Early Republic |url=https://archive.org/details/sociallifeinearl0000anne |url-access=limited |date=1903 |publisher=Lippincott |page=[https://archive.org/details/sociallifeinearl0000anne/page/190 190]}} Hortense, by then Queen Consort of the Netherlands, would send Hortensia presents, including oil portraits of herself, her brother Eugene, and Henriette Campan.{{cite book |last1=Osborn Stoddard |first1=William |title=James Madison, James Monroe and John Quincy Adams |url=https://archive.org/details/jamesmadisonjam00stodgoog |date=1887 |publisher=University Society |page=[https://archive.org/details/jamesmadisonjam00stodgoog/page/n211 190]}} The friendship with Hortense did not afford Hay an invitation to a ball at Caroline Bonaparte's Château de Neuilly, as "the sister of an Emperor could not be expected to receive the daughter of an honest republican."{{sfn|Morgan|1921|p=257}} Hortensia married Lloyd Nicholas Rogers of Baltimore as his second wife, with whom she had three daughters.
On September 21, 1830, Hay's husband George died, followed by her mother Elizabeth two days later. Her father James died less than a year later, on July 4, 1831. Following this string of deaths, Hay moved back to Paris, where she converted to Catholicism and joined a convent. While she was living in Paris, Pope Gregory XVI sent her a bracelet he had blessed. The bracelet was "French silver-gilt, with a cameo setting of the head of Christ."{{cite book |last1=Upton |first1=Harriet Taylor |title=Wide Awake, Volume 27 |date=1888 |publisher=D. Lothrop & Company |pages=118–119}}
Hay died in Paris on January 27, 1840, and was buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery.{{Cite web |title=Eliza Monroe Hay |url=https://academics.umw.edu/jamesmonroepapers/biography/eliza-monroe-hay/ |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=Academics {{!}} Papers of James Monroe |language=en-US}}
{{Monroe family tree}}
References
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Category:18th-century American people
Category:19th-century American people
Category:18th-century American women
Category:19th-century American women
Category:American people of Dutch descent
Category:American people of English descent