Georgette Heyer's Regency World (31 page)

Princess Elizabeth (1770–1840):
Known to her sisters as ‘Fatima’ because of her liking for food, Princess Elizabeth was a plump, spirited young woman who was often ill as a child and probably suffered from a milder form of the family malady. She wanted to be married, but a promising relationship with Louis Philippe, the exiled eldest son of the Duke of Orléans was thwarted by the Queen. She eventually married Frederick, Prince of Hesse-Homburg, established a new home in Europe and lived happily ever after with ‘her Fritz’.

Princess Mary (1776–1857):
Generally held to be the beauty of the family and known as ‘dearest Minny’, Princess Mary was a much-loved and caring sister. She was a comfort to her mother which may have been why, of all the royal sisters, Mary gained the Queen’s approval of her marriage to her cousin William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester (illegitimate son of George III’s brother). Mary was the longest-lived of George III’s children; she attended the Great Exhibition of 1851, knew all of Queen Victoria’s offspring, and died at the age of eighty.

Princess Sophia (1777–1848):
Another of the royal sisters to suffer from the family malady was Princess Sophia. Intelligent and beautiful, she never married. Sophia suffered bouts of ill health and depression throughout her life yet, although she was disliked by her mother, her sweet disposition made her the favourite of many.

Princess Amelia (1783–1810):
The youngest of fifteen, Princess Amelia was born after her brothers Octavius and Alfred, both of whom died in infancy. Loved by everyone, she was her father’s favourite and her death in 1810 was believed to have contributed to the King’s final descent into madness.

Influential Women

Jane Austen (1775–1817):
An English novelist, Austen was born in Steventon, Hampshire, the second youngest of seven siblings. Her father was rector at Steventon where they lived until she was twenty-five after which the family moved to Bath and then Chawton. Austen began writing as a child and developed a keen eye for human foibles and the vagaries of English class and society. Her incisive and witty novels about ordinary people have made her one of the world’s best-known authors. Four of her six novels were published anonymously before her death in 1817 and the last two appeared posthumously in 1818. Austen died in her sister Cassandra’s arms in Winchester on 18 July 1817.

Frances (Fanny) Burney, Madame D’Arblay (1752–1840):
English novelist and dramatist Fanny Burney’s first novel,
Evelina
, was published anonymously in 1778. Her father was a music historian and composer whose ambitions caused him to press his daughter to accept a position in the royal household where she served as second keeper of the robes to Queen Charlotte until ill health forced her to retire. In 1793 she married a French refugee, General D’Arblay, and travelled with him to France. The D’Arblays were interned by Napoleon from 1802 to 1812 and were in Brussels during the Battle of Waterloo, accounts of which may be read in her well-known
Diaries
. Madame D’Arblay spent some time in Bath where Fanny, Lady Spenborough, encountered her buying ribbons in a shop in Gay Street in
Bath Tangle
.

Mary Anne Clarke (1776–1852):
Beautiful and determined, Mary Anne Clarke was the daughter of a London stonemason and became mistress to the Duke of York. He established her in a house in Gloucester Place but also made available a second house at Weybridge—not far from Oatlands where he spent weekends with his wife. The cost of keeping up two households far exceeded her annual £1,000 allowance so Mary began selling army commissions on the side. An untimely end to the affair prompted her to reveal her activities to the Whig opposition and the ensuing public inquiry forced the Duke, in his role as Commander-in-Chief of the army, to resign. An attempt by Mary to capitalise on the scandal with a ‘tell all’ book entitled
The Rival Princes
was mildly successful.

Maria Edgeworth (1767–1849):
She came to fame with the publication of her novel of Irish life,
Castle Rackrent
, published in 1800. Her work influenced Walter Scott, with whom she corresponded, and was also acknowledged by Jane Austen in
Northanger Abbey
. She wrote a number of other novels and children’s stories and was adept in her portrayal of Ireland’s people and places.

Margaret Mercer Elphinstone, Viscountess Keith, Countess de Flahault (1788–1867):
Close friend and confidante of the heir apparent, Princess Charlotte, Mercer Elphinstone was the only child of one of Nelson’s superiors, Admiral Keith. Eight years older than the princess, Mercer supported and advised her by visiting and corresponding over several years. The two women shared similar political views and after 1811 the Prince Regent was inclined to disapprove of Mercer’s influence on his daughter. Mercer was one of a handful of people summoned by Charlotte to aid her after she had run away to her mother’s home in 1814. She also acted as an intermediary in the Princess’s relationship with Prince Leopold. Mercer also corresponded with Lord Byron and in 1814 he gave her his famous Albanian costume. Lady Lynton in
A Civil Contract
scored a great hit when Miss Elphinstone attended her rout party just after Princess Charlotte had run away.

Mrs Fitzherbert, Maria Anne Fitzherbert née Smythe (1756–1837):
Already twice widowed when she met the Prince of Wales in 1784, Maria Fitzherbert was a charming, graceful woman with golden hair, a good figure and a comfortable income; she was also a devout Catholic. The Prince became enamoured of her and in 1785 overcame her resistance and married her—an illegal act which contravened both the Act of Succession (forbidding marriage to a Catholic) and the Royal Marriage Act (royal offspring under twenty-five needed the monarch’s permission to marry). For several years Mrs Fitzherbert was treated in many respects as the Prince’s lawful wife but by 1793 he had become involved with the acerbic and ambitious Lady Jersey and by 1794 his debts were so great that he began casting about for a lawful bride acceptable to the parliament who would increase the annual amount paid to the Prince in the event of such a marriage. Perhaps because of her faith, or because she loved him, Mrs Fitzherbert quietly stood aside when her Prince married Caroline of Brunswick and took him back again after the mismatched couple separated. The relationship lasted until 1806 when the Prince turned his attention to Lady Hertford. Mrs Fitzherbert eventually withdrew from his life, living quietly in London and Brighton, where a statue of her wearing three wedding rings (one for each husband) was erected after her death in 1837. In
Regency Buck
Mrs Scattergood expressed the opinion of many in the period when she said that she had always felt Mrs Fitzherbert to be the Prince’s ‘true wife’.

Isabella Anne Ingram Shepherd, Marchioness of Hertford (1760–1836):
One of the Prince’s most enduring mistresses, Lady Hertford began her relationship with the heir to the throne in 1807 when she was forty-six and he was still Prince of Wales. The affair continued until 1819 when he transferred his affections to Elizabeth, Countess Conyngham. Lady Hertford was a tall, elegant and attractive woman, whose husband was a wealthy Tory peer. She was disliked by some among the
ton
, including Mrs Dauntry in
Frederica
who thought her an ‘odious woman’ and worried that in the event of Queen Charlotte’s death the Regent might allow his mistress to play host at the Drawing-rooms. The Regent was also good friends with Lady Hertford’s rake-hell son, Lord Yarmouth.

Lady Jersey, Frances, 4th Countess of Jersey (1753–1821):
Frances, Lady Jersey was forty-one and a grandmother when she became the Prince of Wales’s mistress. She was a friend of his mother’s and had known him for years. An attractive, clever woman with an acerbic tongue and ambitions of acquiring royal influence, she deliberately set out to capture the Prince and ruthlessly encouraged him to cast off his morganatic wife, Maria Fitzherbert, in favour of herself. In 1794 she actively encouraged him to marry his unsuitable bride, Caroline of Brunswick—ostensibly to cement her own position as his mistress but also to negate Mrs Fitzherbert’s claim to be his lawful wife. In 1796, after the birth of his daughter, the Prince tired of Lady Jersey and ended the relationship.

Mrs Jordan, Dorothea Jordan née Bland (1762–1816):
A successful actress for almost thirty years, Mrs Jordan often appeared at Drury Lane theatre to great acclaim and was best known for her feisty comic roles. In 1790 she met the Duke of Clarence (later William IV) and became his mistress. Their relationship endured for over twenty years and they had ten children together, collectively known as the FitzClarences.

Lady Caroline Lamb (1785–1828):
Born Lady Caroline Ponsonby, daughter of the Earl of Bessborough, she married William Lamb in 1805. A tempestuous, highly strung and impulsive young woman, Caro Lamb may have been as much a victim of her social context as of her own over-emotional personality. Both her mother and her aunt had affairs (although very discreetly) and she grew up with illegitimate half-sisters and cousins. Her own affairs were wildly indiscreet and in 1812 she developed a grand passion for Lord Byron, whom she famously described as ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know’. Caroline could be fascinating but the affair lasted less than a year as Byron became disenchanted with her demanding, histrionic behaviour (not altogether unlike his own). Socially damaged as a result of the liaison, she was totally ostracised when, in 1816, she published a romantic novel,
Glenarvon
, in which she had caricaturised several of society’s elite.

Ann Radcliffe (1764–1823):
Generally considered one of the originators of the Gothic novel, Ann Radcliffe became famous for her tales with a supernatural element. Her first book,
Romance of the Forest
(1791), brought her wide acclaim but it was
The Mysteries of Udolpho
(1794) that established her as a popular writer. She was widely admired by contemporary authors and her work influenced the writings of both Percy Shelley and Byron. It was books like Mrs Radcliffe’s which provided the material for Amanda’s extraordinary stories in
Sprig Muslin
.