Coco Chanel Husband: Who Did She Marry?

Who Is Coco Chanel’s Husband?

Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel popularly known as Coco Chanel was a French fashion designer and businesswoman. When it comes to the fashion world, she is a prolific fashion creator and has been a household name for many decades. She is the founder and namesake of the Chanel brand. She launched her first perfume Chanel No. 5, her signature scent, which has become an iconic product. She was very successful in her career but can we say the same about her love life?

Several people keep asking if Coco Chanel was ever married. Coco had several high-profile relationships with influential men, many of whom helped to advance her social standing and her career. She was never married and had no children. At age twenty-three, she became the mistress of French ex-cavalry officer and textile heir, Étienne Balsan.

Coco and Étienne met in Moulins and became lovers. She took the place of French dancer, actress, and courtesan Émilienne d’Alençon and became Étienne’s favorite. They lived in Étienne’s château Royallieu near Compiègne, an area known for its wooded equestrian paths and the hunting life. Étienne sponsored Coco with the baubles of “the rich life”, diamonds, dresses, and pearls.

Étienne introduced Coco to his friend Captain Arthur Edward “Boy” Capel who later became Coco’s lover. Boy Capel was the one who sponsored Coco’s first shops and his own clothing style, notably his blazers, inspired her creation of the Chanel look. Coco and Boy Capel enjoyed their time together, mostly at fashionable resorts such as Deauville.

Also Read: Lucien Chanel: What Happened To Coco Chanel’s Brother?

Boy Capel was never faithful to Coco Chanel although she was thinking they could have settled together. Their affair lasted for nine years and it continued even after Boy Capel got married. They were seeing each other until Boy Capel died in a car accident on 22 December 1919.

Speaking of Boy Capel’s death, Coco Chanel said, “His death was a terrible blow to me. In losing Capel, I lost everything. What followed was not a life of happiness, I have to say.” Coco later had an affair with an expatriate aristocrat, the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia. Their relationship was dubbed brief but notorious.

Coco Chanel had an affair with the Duke of Westminster, Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor, known to his intimates as “Bendor”. He lavished Coco with extravagant jewels, costly art, and a home in London’s prestigious Mayfair district. Their affair lasted for ten years.

The Duke of Westminster gave Coco a parcel of land he had purchased in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin on the French Riviera. She built a villa here, which she called La Pausa. When asked why she did not marry the Duke of Westminster, she is supposed to have said: “There have been several Duchesses of Westminster. There is only one Chanel.”

Also Read: Coco Chanel Siblings: How Many Siblings Does She Have?

The Prince of Wales, Edward VIII was allegedly said to be in love with Coco and pursued her despite her relationship with the Duke of Westminster. Later, Diana Vreeland, editor of Vogue, revealed that Coco and the Prince “had a great romantic moment together”. However, Coco had a relationship with poet Pierre Reverdy.

Even after Coco and Pierre Reverdy ended their relationship, they remained friends for forty years. Coco also had a relationship with illustrator and designer Paul Iribe. She had an affair with German aristocrat and member of Dincklage noble family Baron Hans Günther von Dincklage.

Meanwhile, Biographer Justine Picardie, in her 2010 study Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life, suggests that Coco Chanel’s nephew, André Palasse, supposedly the only child of her sister Julia-Berthe who had committed suicide, was Coco Chanel’s child by Étienne Balsan.