The Randouins (M. Randouin-Berthier and family)

Overview

The household of M. Randouin (Alexandre Randouin-Berthier in the Mon Journal indexes), his wife Odette and their children: a fixture of Nice society under the last imperial prefect, Gavini («Mme Gavini, dernière préfète de l'Empire, à Nice. C'est sous son règne que régnèrent les Randouin, Souvoroff, Doubelt, Korsakoff», 075.0465), still there in Marie's first diary years («Belletti et Randouin étaient à la tête de l'élégance préfectorale de Nice il y a trois ans», 083.0027, October 1878), and from 1878 part of the Gavinis' Bonapartist circle in Paris. This file is for the husband, the couple and the children; Mme Randouin herself has her own entry, Odette.

Relevance to Marie

• Nice 1873: «le bataclan Randouin» at the pigeon-shooting (003.0179); M. Randouin, met with Lambertye, greets the family and Marie hopes he will introduce them (004.0292); he is at the Tir (012.0015). The «Mme Randouin» with whom the Duke of Hamilton danced a round on a grey, rainy day (015.0242, 18 January 1874) is Odette (0.8): she «nous connaît si bien de Nice» (082.0551).
• Paris 1878–84: M. Randouin in the Gavini set (084.0491 «Randouin et sa femme»; 085.0251, 085.0308, 086.0570, 087.0436); «Ils sont très gênés les Randouin quoiqu'entourés de luxe et d'élégance» (089.0011); he is a member of the Mirlitons (103.0116).
• January–February 1884: Marie paints «le petit Randouin», nine years old (102.0638, 102.0643, 102.0668, 103.0115), and the portraits «des petits Randouin» (103.0224), which she shows to Julian (103.0300).

Identity

The Randouins have not been traced outside the diary and the Mon Journal indexes; Mme Randouin was «sous-préfète du temps où les Gavini faisaient si grandement les honneurs» in Nice (082.0548), so M. Randouin was presumably a sub-prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes under the Empire (not confirmed in a source).

References in Diary

• 1873: 003.0179, 004.0292, 007.0301, 010.0011, 012.0015
• 1877–78: 075.0465, 083.0027
• 1879–84: 084.0491, 085.0236, 085.0251, 085.0267, 085.0308, 086.0029, 086.0570, 086.0616, 086.0649, 087.0436, 087.0478, 087.0519, 089.0011, 090.0309, 091.0408, 097.0268, 102.0638, 102.0643, 102.0668, 103.0115, 103.0116, 103.0224, 103.0300, 104.0464