11 Facts About Alexandre Dumas

Do you want to learn interesting and fun facts about Alexandre Dumas?

Born on July 24, 1802, Alexandre Dumas is one of the famous French writers of the 19th century. Some of Dumas’ notable works are The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. Due to such works, he established himself as a highly regarded dramatist and historical novelist.

Dumas died at the age of 68 on December 5, 1970, but his life and other facts about him still interest people up to this day. If you are interested in learning more about him, here are some interesting information about Alexandre Dumas.

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11 Facts About Alexandre Dumas

1. Dumas wasn’t born rich

One trivia about Alexandre Dumas is that he didn’t come from a wealthy family. His father, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, died in 1806 at the age of 26 because of stomach cancer.

Since then, the young Dumas who has only turned 4 years old at that time, together with his sister and mother, has been forced to suffer financially and has fallen into extreme poverty as a result.

2. Three men are named Alexandre Dumas

This might be confusing, but there are actually three men named Alexandre Dumas. First is Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de La Pailleterie, the father of Alexandre Dumas. During the time of the French Revolution, Thomas-Alexandre served as a general in the French Army.

Secondly, Alexandre Dumas aka Alexandre Dumas, père whom these interesting facts are about. Lastly is his son, Alexandre Dumas fils, who also happens to be a novelist. He is known for the romantic novel La Dame aux Camélias (The Lady of the Camellias).

It might be confusing, but in French, they use père (father) and fils (son) to distinguish the two, especially since they have similar names.

3. Dumas had four illegitimate children

Dumas is definitely a lover boy. An interesting information about Alexandre Dumas is that throughout his lifetime, he had around 40 mistresses and 4 illegitimate children.

His eldest was named after him, Alexandre Dumas, who was born in 1824. His mother is Marie Labay who worked in the garment industry. When the young Alexandre Dumas, was seven, his father Alexandre, was successful in obtaining custody of him 

Dumas’s second child was the daughter of Belle Krelsamer, Marie Alexandrine Dumas. Marie Alexandrine Dumas was born in 1831 and just like her father, she is also a French writer. The third child was Henry Bauer.

Henry was born in 1851 in Paris, France. Furthermore, the youngest Micaëlla Josephe Cordier is the daughter of Emelie Cordier and was born in the year 1860.

4. Dumas got married once

Even though Dumas was known for having so many mistresses, he once got married. He married the actress Ida Ferrier, whose birth name was Marguerite-Joséphine Ferrand on February 1, 1840.

However, Ferrier and Dumas didn’t have any children together.

5. Dumas did drugs with other popular French writers

Dumas together with other French writers including Gerard de Nerval, Honore de Balzac, Charles Baudelaire, and Victor Hugo were part of the Club des Hashischins. It is a Parisian group that meets regularly to smoke hash. Hash is a drug made from the dried and pressed resin of the cannabis plant.

On the other hand, one of Dumas’ works, The Count of Monte Cristo contains several references to taking drugs. For instance, when Sinbad and Franz both indulge in hallucinogenic drugs.

6. Dumas received a Legion d’honnor award in 1837

The Legion of Honor is generally regarded as France’s most prestigious award and honor. It has five different degrees, which are Chevalier (Knight), Officier (Officer), Commandeur (Commander), Grand Officier (Grand Officer), and Grand Croix (Grand Cross) (Grand Cross). Only individuals with French citizenship are eligible to receive the award.

This illustrious honor was bestowed upon a number of French nationals, including Alexandre Dumas. On July 2, 1837, Alexandre Dumas was made a Knight of the French Legion of Honor, despite the fact that his most famous works, including The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, had not yet been published.

7. The Chateau de Monte Cristo was once owned by Alexandre Dumas

Dumas’ notable novels Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo gained him popularity and money. Through its success, he was able to pay off his debts and desired to live peacefully outside Paris.

Dumas fell in love with the beautiful view of Port-Marly and decided to build a chateau there. He hired architect Hippolyte Durand to design his desired Renaissance chateau. Dumas wanted a chateau surrounded by water and an English park. The construction happened between 1844 and 1847.

However, a year after the chateau was built, Dumas had to sell the property due to a lack of money.  It wasn’t until 1994 that the chateau was given its current function as a public historical museum after undergoing a comprehensive renovation.

The museum was filled with a lot of mementos belonging to Dumas, such as letters, portraits, and books.

8. A Paris metro station is named after Alexandre Dumas

A metro station named after him is one of the fun facts about Alexandre Dumas. The Alexandre Dumas Station, named after the French writer, is a station on Line 2 of the Paris metro system near Place de la Nation.

Alexandre Dumas Station is situated on the border of the 11th and 20th arrondissements. The station was opened on January 31, 1903, and was originally called ‘Bagnolet’. However, in 1970 the station’s name was changed to the Alexandre Dumas Station in order to avoid confusion with a newly constructed station on Line 3 called “Porte de Bagnolet.”

9. Dumas’ remains were reburied in the Pantheon on his 200th birthday.

Alexandre Dumas died in 1870 and he was buried in the cemetery of the town where he was born. But during his 200th birthday in 2002, a decree issued by President Jacques Chirac stated that Dumas’ remains would be moved to the Pantheon, where other great French nationals are buried.

He was reburied in the official tomb of honor alongside his good friend, the novelist Victor Hugo. A blue flag with the motto “All for one and one for all” was draped over the top of Alexandre Dumas’s coffin. This motto was taken from his well-known novel, “The Three Musketeers.”

10. Dumas wrote fictionalized serials about Queen Marie-Antoinette

Another trivia about Alexandre Dumas is his popular writings about the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette. Marie Antoinette was the country’s queen from 1774 to 1793. The queen was popular for her alleged insensitive remark, “Let them eat cake,” which means the poor should eat burnt and moldy dough from the oven. Her words were also interpreted as a manner of suggesting that she is unconcerned about the plight of her countrymen during the French Revolution.

Marie-Antoinette’s downfall and popularity became Dumas’ inspiration to write eight novels about her. One of his famous writings is the Le Collier de la reine or the “Necklace of the Queen, which makes reference to the actual fraud scandal that occurred during Marie Antoinette’s reign and was one of the factors that led to her demise.

11. Dumas’ final novel was published in 2005

Dumas’ unfinished novel which was published in 2005 is one of the fun facts about Alexandre Dumas. The historical novel The Saint-Hermine trilogy is believed to be Dumas’ last major work.

Fortunately, the unfinished manuscript of the novel was found and completed by scholar Claude Schopp. It was published in 2005 with the title Le Chevalier de Sainte-Hermine and translated to English as ‘The Last Cavalier’.

This novel is only one of the forgotten works of Dumas, but it is the largest and contains the most information at 900 pages.