Consuelo de Saint-Exupéry: The Muse Who Inspired The Little Prince

Discover the true love story between the little prince and his rose that inspired Antoine Saint-Exupéry's iconic novella

Published in 1943 in English and French, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince is one of the best-selling books of all time. Its story reflects universal themes such as love, loss, and loneliness. The elegant watercolor illustrations (done by Saint-Exupéry himself) and countless novel adaptations—ranging from theater to ballet, opera, and video games—have seen The Little Prince go down in history as one of the most universal and relevant tales in literature.

Although the story is familiar to many—it's a mainstay in many children’s education—few know what (or who) inspired the iconic and emblematic tale: the relationship between its author and his wife, Salvadoran artist Consuelo de Saint-Exupéry.

More than a children's story

The story is told by a narrator, an aviator who finds himself lost in the desert after his plane crashes. There he meets the little prince, a young boy who tells him how he has traveled through space and visited different planets. As the narrator looks for ways to fix his plane before he runs out of water, the little prince tells him about his adventures, sharing his relationships with the characters he met on his travels.

Despite the children's book style and aesthetic, its observations and themes go beyond simple morals. The story deals with topics such as humanity, loneliness, friendship, love, and loss honestly and directly through its characters.

Many of the reflections revolve around adults and society: their inability to understand "the important things", their arrogance, their materialism... This, together with the illustrations that characterize the story, his powerful quotes, and his dreamlike and captivating style, earned the little prince and his characters their fame.

The rose: the little prince's love

One of the characters the little prince talks about is the rose. He confesses his love for her and describes her as vain and silly, growing on the surface of an asteroid. He explains that she is pretentious and feigns trouble to get his attention and care. During their time together, the little prince feeds her, cares for her, and protects her from the winds by covering her with a glass globe.

Despite his love for her, the little prince believes his Rose was taking advantage of him and decides to leave her behind to travel to other planets. However, when the time comes to say goodbye, the rose apologizes for not having been able to show him that she really loved him. She tells him that they have both been immature in that relationship. She wishes him well in his travels, but refuses the protection of the crystal globe he had placed to save her from the wind: from now on, she will protect herself.

The little prince regrets having paid more attention to his Rose's vain words than to her actions, which showed that she also loved him.

Later, coming across a field full of rose bushes, the little prince is saddened believing their presence means his rose is not as unique as he thought. However, with the help of a fox, he realizes this is not so: having cared for and "tamed" his rose, to him, she is the most special in the whole garden.

This event reveals one of the most important lessons—and iconic lines—from the story: "One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye."

Toward the end of the story, the little prince decides he wants to return to his rose, worried about leaving her alone. To do so, he allows a snake that's promised to help him return to his planet to bite him. We don't know if the young man dies or manages to reach his destination to be reunited with his rose.

Consuelo de Saint-Exupéry: the woman behind the tormented rose

Consuelo Suncín-Sandoval Zeceña was born in 1901 in Armenia, El Salvador, into a wealthy family. Because of her asthma, she moved to San Francisco, USA, and later to Mexico City and France to receive a comprehensive international education.

Despite her advantageous economic situation, Consuelo’s past made her a social pariah: her first marriage to a Mexican captain had ended in divorce, something unthinkable at the time. She hid this by saying that her husband had died in the Mexican Revolution.

Later, she traveled to Paris, where she met Guatemalan journalist and writer Enrique Gómez Carrillo, whom she married despite their age difference (she was thirty years younger). The literary critic died less than a year after the wedding, leaving her his considerable fortune, with which Consuelo settled in Buenos Aires.

In 1931, at the age of thirty, the artist met and married Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. At that time, Consuelo was a controversial figure: divorced, widowed, and with a reputation as a bohemian and problematic woman, but of undeniable magnetism.

In her biography, Consuelo de Saint Exupéry: Une mariée vêtue de noir, writer Marie-Helene Carbonel notes that in addition to being a very physically attractive woman, "she could also talk [with men]," as she was a beautiful and intelligent person as well. "It's no accident that she attracted so many intelligent and important men," the author comments.

A troubled marriage

The love between Consuelo and Saint-Exupéry was an infatuation that evolved into a tempestuous relationship. She became his muse, to whom he wrote true declarations of love in his letters. However, problems in their marriage soon began to arise.

As a Count and widely recognized writer, Saint-Exupéry belonged to exclusive social circles where a woman like Consuelo was not welcome. The French nobility and his disliked her and her adopting the title of Countess through marriage to Antoine.

Recognized worldwide as a pioneering aviator, Saint-Exupéry traveled frequently, and on his journeys had numerous affairs with different women. Not to be left behind, throughout their marriage, Consuelo also committed numerous infidelities of her own. Their love story was stormy and troubled, and never entirely happy.

The Tale of the Rose: Consuelo's own story

Saint-Exupéry disappeared in 1944, during one of his World War II aviation missions, leaving Consuelo a widow after more than a decade of marriage. Although the circumstances of his death remain shrouded in mystery, the same is not true of his relationship with his wife. A year after his disappearance, Consuelo wrote The Tale of the Rose, where she talks about her marriage to the writer.

This manuscript about her relationship with Saint-Exupéry wasn't published until 2000, many years after his death in 1979, and its pages caused a real stir in France. The Salvadoran artist speaks of a selfish and cruel Antoine, and of a bitter and troubled marriage, of her husband's numerous infidelities, and of the years full of conflict and bitterness. The book has become a sensation since its publication and has been translated into sixteen languages.

The Little Prince: a love letter

Following Consuelo's confessions in The Tale of the Rose, many critics now believe that The Little Prince is an allegory of Saint-Exupéry's life: his worries, his reflections, and regrets.

The three volcanoes on the little prince's planet represent the three volcanoes of El Salvador. The rose, vain but kind-hearted, is Consuelo. Her fragility, the chronic asthma she suffered from. The field of roses that distracts the little prince during his visit to earth and makes him doubt the value of his rose, an allegory of his numerous infidelities.

The Little Prince has gone down in history as a tale full of interesting reflections, poetic lessons, and iconic images. But for biographer Marie-Helene Carbonel, The Little Prince is a love letter and an apology, from Saint-Exupéry to Consuelo. One we don't know if she ever accepted.

Did you know this story? Tell us what you think about it in the comments below.

English version by @acesarato.

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