King's Daughters - Rumours and Legends

Rumours and Legends

The idea that the filles du roi were prostitutes has been an insidious rumor ever since the inception of the program in the 17th century. It seems to have arisen from a couple of misconceptions, both contemporary and modern, about immigration to French colonies in the New World. The first of these, which took root long before the first fille du roi emigrated, was that Canada was a penal colony. While there were two campaigns in the mid-16th century that involved the immigration of French criminals to Canada in exchange for their record being expunged, they were both short-lived, and resulted in little more than establishing a precedent for viewing Canada as a place where those "of questionable morality" could be sent for one reason or another.

The popularization of the idea that the filles du roi in particular were prostitutes can be traced to an account by Baron La Hontan of his time in New France, although there were several sources predating La Hontan making the same contention, including Saint-Amant, Tallement des Réaux, and Paul LeJeune. In La Hontan's account, he refers to the filles du roi as being "of middling virtue", and that they had emigrated in the hopes of religious absolution. However, his description was rejected as early as 1738 by Claude Le Beau and 1744 by Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix in their respective accounts of their journeys to New France.

According to the author Peter Gagné, there is no record of any of the Caribbean women having gone to Canada. Out of nearly 800 filles du roi, only one, Catherine Guichelin, was charged with prostitution while living in Canada. She appeared before the Sovereign Council of New France under the charge of carrying out "a scandalous life and prostitution" on 19 August 1675. Her two children were 'adopted' by friends, and she was banished from Quebec City. She was reported to have turned to prostitution after her husband, Nichols Buteau, abandoned the family and returned to France. She later gave birth to many children out of wedlock. Guichelin had at least two marriage contracts cancelled. She also wed twice more after returning to Sorel, Quebec, then Montreal, Quebec.