Julia Lubomirska

Who was Julia Lubomirska?

Princess Julia Lubomirska was a Polish noble lady.

She was the daughter of Izabela Lubomirska, one of the richest people in the Commonwealth and cousin of the king Stanisław August Poniatowski, and the Grand Marshal of the Crown Stanisław Lubomirski. She was considered one of the most beautiful women of her time, for which she was called "Guiliatta la bella".

In 1785 in Wilanów, she married Jan Nepomucen Potocki, travel writer best known for his novel Manuscript found in Saragossa and for being the first person in Poland to fly on a hot air balloon. Soon after the wedding they went together to Italy, France, Britain, and the Netherlands for three years. During this time, she gave birth to Alfred and Artur while staying with her mother.

They returned in 1788, when Jan became an envoy at the Four-Year Sejm and Julia supported the Constitution of 3 May. It was during this time that she met Eustachy Erazm Sanguszko, also an envoy at said Sejm, with whom she had an affair well known socially. They were separated by his participation in the Polish-Russian War of 1792 and the Kościuszko Uprising, though they continued to correspond.