Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson


 * For the spaceship, see SS Madame De Pompadour.

"My dear Doctor: the path has never seemed more slow, and yet I fear I am nearing its end. Reason tells me that you and I are unlikely to meet again, but I think I shall not listen to reason. I have seen the world inside your head and know that all things are possible. Hurry though, my love: my days grow shorter now, and I am so very weak. Godspeed, my lonely angel."

- Reinette's final letter to the Doctor

Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson (1721–1764), often known by nicknames Reinette and Madame de Pompadour, was a well-known courtesan and the famous mistress of King Louis XV of France.

The Doctor met and romanced her at several points during her life as a result of time manipulation by the robots from the future. She referred to the Doctor as the "lonely angel". Using his Time Lord abilities, the Doctor examines Reinette's brain, having a look at her past experiences. It's not long before the Doctor realizes that Reinette is also using this opportunity to have a look inside the Doctor's mind at his lonely childhood. When he questions Reinette about how she managed that, she explains that " a door once opened may be stepped through in either direction."

When Reinette shows the Doctor, briefly stranded in the 18th century a way back to his original time, the Doctor invites her to travel with him, but due to time differential she dies before she is able to do so.

In the 51st century, a starship bearing her name, the SS Madame De Pompadour, would be built. Reinette herself would very briefly set foot upon the vessel when she stepped through one of the time portals that had been created on the vessel. (DW: The Girl in the Fireplace)