Aimée de Heeren

Aimée de Heeren, born Aimée Soto-Maior de Sá or Aimée de Sotomayor (3 August 1903 – 13 September 2006), was a Brazilian socialite and secret service agent tasked with preventing Getúlio Vargas, former president of Brazil, from forming a WW2 alliance with Nazi Germany.

She was the sister of Vera de Sá Sottomaior, who was married to John Felix Charles "Ivor" Bryce, Randal Plunkett, 19th Baron of Dunsany, and Sir Walter Frederic Pretyman. Through her sister, she was the aunt of the 20th Baron of Dunsany. She was born in Castro, Paraná, as the daughter of school teachers Genésio de Sá Sotomayor and Julieta Sampaio Quentel.

Rio de Janeiro


In the 1930s, she moved to Rio de Janeiro, where she married Luís Simões Lopes, chief of staff of President Getúlio Vargas. De Heeren lived at the Catete Palace, the seat of the president of Brazil, sparking controversy over her relationship with the president. De Heeren never confirmed nor denied the allegation.

Decades after Vargas's death in 1954, his secret diary was published with multiple references to his "bem-amada" (English: "beloved"). Some historians believe that the "bem-amada" was Aimée de Heeren.

Secret Service agent in Paris
In 1938, de Hereren was sent to France to find information for President Vargas. Vargas was invited to join the Axis powers. Disguised as a "fashionista" Aimée met people from European society. Among them was the German lawyer and Nazi oppositionist Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, who gave her confidential information about Germany. With this information, she influenced President Vargas away from an alliance with the Axis.

De Heeren was also seen with Coco Chanel (now known to be a Nazi agent) at many receptions, including the two Circus Bal events given by Elsie de Wolfe. Chanel and de Heeren remained close friends, particularly towards the end of Chanel's life.

According to US Vogue editor Bettina Ballard, de Heeren, at the time called Aimée Lopez or Aimée Lopez de Sotto Major, made a huge impression on French society:

"I particularly remember the season when Aimée was lionized in Paris. She was so pretty, so genuinely nice, carried gaiety with her like a fan, and she was almost eaten alive. Hung with diamonds, she was pushed from fittings to balls, never allowed a moment for private conquest because every hostess needed her for her party to prove that she could draw the lioness of the season. Aimee just wanted to dance and flirt and have fun. That wasn't what Paris expected of her."

- Bettina Ballard

Exile in New York
Due to the Nazi occupation of France, she was forced to emigrate to the U.S., where she met with Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., the oldest of the Kennedy brothers, with whom she had fallen in love while in Europe. Her friendship with the Kennedy family lasted until her death. She later married the Spanish American Rodman Arturo Heeren, grandson of Antonio Heeren, 1st Count of Heeren, and great-grandson of John Wanamaker, the founder of the Wanamaker Department Stores. They had homes in Paris, New York City, Palm Beach, Florida, and Biarritz, but never stayed in one location for very long. The couple had one daughter: Cristina Heeren y Sá de Sotomayor, 3rd Countess of Heeren.

Several times, de Heeren was listed as one of the best dressed women in the world, and a 1941 edition of Time magazine included her as number three in a list of "Ten Best Dressed Women in the World". She was mentioned in magazines such as Vogue. She was named to the International Best Dressed Hall of Fame List in 1996.

Later years
She took online courses at the Crèmerie de Paris. This resulted in the creation of the Brazilian White Pages. In 2005, at the age of 102, she traveled to Belgrade to attend the 60th birthday of Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia, at the White Palace. According to the phone book of Biarritz, until she was aged 102, she swam in the Atlantic daily while in the city. She died the following year, in New York City, at the age of 103.