James Harden-Hickey

James Harden-Hickey (born James Aloysius Harden, December 8, 1854 – February 9, 1898) was a Franco-American author, newspaper editor, duellist and adventurer. He was the founder of the self-proclaimed Principality of Trinidad, claiming title over the uninhabited island of Trindade in the South Atlantic Ocean. Early life James Aloysius Harden was born in San Francisco on December 8, 1854. To avoid the violent city still in the madness of the gold rush, James' French mother, from a family of Irish Catholic exiles named Hickey, took him to live in Paris, which was then an Empire under the rule of Napoleon III. The nephew of Napoleon I left his mark on James by making France a wild, flamboyant stage for ornate theatrical displays and public works, and mystifying ceremonies. As a child, James was fascinated with the French court and all of its glamor and pomp. Also, because of the lively brilliance of the live theater, he acquired a lifelong liking of adventure. During boyhood he was taught in Belgium by the Jesuits and later studied law at the University of Leipzig. He entered the French military academy, Saint-Cyr, at 19. In 1875, he graduated with high marks. Shortly thereafter, his father died. Three years later, Harden-Hickey married the Countess de Saint-Pery and fathered two children. By then he had mastered French, was accounted a master swordsman and began writing novels. Literary career On November 10, 1878, Harden-Hickey first published the newspaper Triboulet, named for a jester of King Louis XII, eight years after Napoleon's fall from power. Though popular, the strongly anti-republican stand of this paper involved Harden-Hickey in no fewer than a dozen duels, several dozen lawsuits and numerous fines. Sadly for Harden-Hickey and his fellow royalists, their funds were exhausted by 1887.