Death by Fame: A Life of Elisabeth Empress of Austria by Andrew Sinclair

Author:Andrew Sinclair [Sinclair, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 19th Century, Austria, Hungary, Royalty, Nonfiction, Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780312198527
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 1998-07-14T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT: Royal Mistresses

Until the nineteenth century, royal mistresses had been a national institution and a political reality. The Queens of England had to recognise the Kings’ mistresses and often have them as Maids of Honour or Women of the Bedchamber. When Queen Caroline was dying, she had begged King George the Second to marry again. The King had burst into tears and said, ‘No - I will have - mistresses.’ ‘My God,’ the dying Queen had said, ‘marriage doesn’t stop that.’ The British Kings had been particularly fond of actresses, as had the Kings of Bavaria. Charles the Second had preferred Nell Gwynne even to his principal mistress, Louise de Kerouaille, the Duchess of Portsmouth. So when a mob attacked Nell in Hyde Park, she was able to shout to them, ‘No, no, good people, I am the English whore, not the French one.’ And when the King refused to ennoble one of his sons by her, she held the child out of a high window and threatened to throw him down till King Charles looked up and cried, ‘God Save the Earl of Burford!’ and later made him Duke of St. Albans. Preferment came from lying down in bed.

While he was heir to the throne. King George the Fourth had a long liaison and a kind of marriage with Mrs. Fitzherbert, who also produced children. Her successor at the Royal Pavilion at Brighton, Lady Conyngham, was dull and devastatingly described by the Princess Lievens: ‘Not an idea in her head; not a word to say of herself; nothing but a hand to accept pearls and diamonds with, and an enormous balcony to wear them on.’ The future William the Fourth had been hailed by his father on his return from Hanover as a Tine stud! Fine stud!,’ but he had not enjoyed it much when he was there, writing home, ‘I hate being in this damnable country, smoking, playing at two-penny whist and wearing great thick boots. Oh, for England and the pretty girls of Westminster; at least to such as would not clap or pox me every time I f...ed.’ He had so many bastards including four sons, some by the actress Mrs. Jordan, that he could not find enough tides for them when he did eventually reach the throne. Their presence at Court, however, made life livelier in a way that legitimate princes and princesses could not.

In spite of the scandal of her relationship with John Brown before his premature death. Queen Victoria could not extend her respectability to her eldest son Edward, who was known for his love of horses, women and the good life. He was the only Prince of Wales ever to give evidence in a divorce case. When asked by his counsel, ‘Has there ever been any improper familiarity or criminal act between yourself and Lady Mordaunt?,’ the Prince of Wales replied, ‘There has not.’ There was a burst of applause in court. Edward took care to keep his many mistresses -

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