Sunday, August 16, 2020

British Duchesses----

Anne Liddell
Duchess of Grafton
Duchess of Grafton
(1737-1804)
Daughter of: Henry Liddell,1st Baron Ravensworth, a Durham coal-magnate & Anne Delme.

Wife of: Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton (1735-1811), mar 1756, sep 1765, div 1769
John FitzPatrick
2nd Earl of Upper Ossory
Her lovers were:
Lover in 1767.
Irish peer and Member of Parliament.
William Cavendish
3rd Duke of Portland
"In January 1756 Grafton married Anne Liddell, the daughter of Baron Ravensworth. During their stormy marriage, they had three children. One of the problems for the couple was that Grafton was remarkably unfaithful to his wife, keeping a series of mistresses openly. In 1764 he left his wife to live with Anne Parsons, alias Mrs. Houghton... Meanwhile, Lady Grafton had embarked on an affair with the Duke of Portland. In January 1765 Grafton and his wife separated: Lady Grafton began an affair with the Earl of Upper Ossory to whom she had a son in 1768. The couple then eloped, to the embarrassment of Grafton. He divorced his wife in March 1769; she married Lord Upper Ossory. . . ." (A Web of English History)

"Now that Anne was separated from her husband she began to continue her partying ways that were formerly curtailed by her husband. First she had an affair with the Duke of Portland and then she moved on to John, the young Earl of Upper Ossory. A pregnancy was a result of the later affair and it did not take long for the Duke to find out. He promptly divorced Anne and then set out to marry someone else...who happened to not be Nancy Parsons. But luck was on charming Anne's side. Unlike many of our other pregnant tarts' stories, the Earl didn't leave Anne hanging and he married her, making her the Countess of Ossory." (The Duchess of Devonshire)
Barbara Villiers 1st Duchess of Cleveland
Barbara Villiers
Duchess of Cleveland
1st Duchess of Cleveland
(1640-1709)
Royal mistress, courtier & courtesan

Lady of the Bedchamber to Barbara of Portugal, Queen of England.

Daughter of: William Villiers, 2nd Viscount Grandison & Mary Bayning.

Wife of Roger Palmer, Earl of Castlemaine (cr. 1661) mar 1659

Physical appearance & personal qualities.
"Barbara was described by diarists of the time as tall and voluptuous, with thick auburn hair and blue/violet eyes, her beauty was said to be striking. It was no wonder then that she traded on her looks from a young age when she had no dowry to commend her. . . ." (Stories from History)

"Described by John Reresby in his Memoirs as "the finest woman of her age" and by John Evelyn as the "the curse of our nation", Barbara Villiers was the daughter of William Villiers, 2nd Viscount Grandison and therefore a cousin of the Villiers Dukes of Buckingham who featured so strongly in the history of the House of Stuart. Barbara was married to a Roger Palmer in 1659, but became Charles's mistress shortly after he returned to England in 1660, and used the relationship to extract as much money as she could. (Most of which she blew gambling.) She bore six children, three boys and three girls, and although it is generally assumed that Charles was the father of at least five of them, this is by no means certain. Mrs Palmer did not confine her adulterous dalliances merely to the king and Charles is known to have denied paternity of her second son who was born in 1663, but Barbara, who was famous for her temper, stamped her foot (literally in all probability) shouting "God damn me, but you shall own it!" and generally creating a scene until the king relented.

"Charles took other mistresses but had a special affection for Barbara. But Barbara saw no reason to remain faithful and took a string of lovers including playwrights, circus performers and a dashing young officer, John Churchill, later Duke of Marlborough, who Charles discovered in Barbara’s bed." (Historic UK)

Duchess of Cleveland's lovers.
1663? James Scott, Duke of Monmouth
1667 Henry Jermyn, 1st Baron Dover
1672 William Wycherley 
1678-1689 Cardell Goodman
1705-1707 Robert Fielding
?-? James Hamilton (Col.)

The most beautiful woman in England's lovers' list.
"Generally acclaimed as the most beautiful woman in England, Barbara was tall, shapely, with blue eyes and auburn hair. She was said to be skilled in 'all the tricks of Aretin that are to be practised to give pleasure. (Pepys, May 15, 1663). Among her numerous lovers besides Chesterfield, the King and Goodman were (according to the gossips) Sir Charles Berkeley, Henry Jermyn, James Hamilton, Charles Hart (an actor), Jacob Hall (a rope dancer), William Wycherley (a playwright), John Churchill (to whom she gave 5,000 pounds), Henry Savile, Ralph Montague, and John, Earl of Mulgrave. She was avaricious, extravagant, foolish, and an inveterate gambler. In spite of immense sums given her by King Charles she died poor." (Wilson. Court Satires of the Restoration: 231)

Barbara's love affairs.
"Among Barbara's conquests were Philip, Lord Chesterfield; courtier Henry Jermyn; actor Charles Hart; a rope dancer named Jacob Hall; playwright Will Wycherly; Jack Churchill, Duke of Marlborough (one child); John Sheffield, Earl of Mulgrave; Henry Savile, Groom of the Bedchamber to the King; Ralph Montagu, Ambassador to France; the Marquis de Châtillon; and actor Cardonnel Goodman; and General Robert Fielding, whom she eventually married. Busy lady!" (Lauren Royal)

Affair with Charles II of England
First encounter.
"In 1659, Barbara and her husband went to the Hague and pledged allegiance to the future King Charles II. Within days, Barbara and Charles were lovers and following his Restoration, he spent his first night in London in bed with Barbara." (Historic UK)

Affair's effect on the Queen.
"Barbara Villiers, later Countess of Castlemaine and Duchess of Cleveland, was another beauty with a less than beautiful disposition. Barbara, a Viscount's daughter, was already married when she met Charles soon after his return to England in 1660. When Charles's future queen, Catherine of Braganza arrived from Portugal in 1662, Barbara appears to have been heavily pregnant by him. She gave birth to a son on 18 June, five weeks after Catherine's arrival. That same day, the Queen visited Barbara in her apartment at Hampton Court, and was so shocked to see the newborn child that she threw a fit and had to be carried out." (Britannia)

From messenger to mistress.
" . . . Palmer (Barbara's husband) was an active royalist, closely involved in the plan to bring Charles back from exile. Through him, Barbara found herself involved with the royal cause. In the spring of 1660 she was asked by some of Palmer's associates to carry messages across the sea to Charles, now watching and waiting in Brussels. She gladly undertook this little adventure, and embarked on one of her own when she got there. In Belgium she became the lover of the king-in-waiting. She was back in England before the restored king arrived there in triumph in May 1660. Some accounts say that Charles spent his first night on English soil in her bed. It is more than likely that he did, since the king had granted to Palmer a house on King Street, ostensibly as a mark of gratitude for his clandestine services. Mrs. Palmer would now be living conveniently close to the palace at Whitehall. She was practically Charles's next-door neighbour." (Inside Pepys' London: 92)

Affair's benefits.
" . . . As an 'illustrious lady of pleasure' she had managed to persuade him to pay her immense gambling debts, and she had amassed vast quantities of jewels, which she wore with great ostentation. She had acquired land and property. One year she had even demanded that Charles give her all the Christmas presents he had received from other monarchs -- and this he did without a murmur. . . . " (Inside Pepys' London: 98)

"Charles gave her the old royal palace of Nonsuch in Surrey, which she proceeded to tear down, selling off its contents. The new broadsheet newspapers eagerly reported Barbara’s exploits, actual or otherwise, and the public loved the gossip about the royal court." (Historic UK)

Royal favours.
" . . . At this time, in 1668, Charles gave her Berkshire House, St. James's, which being always financially embarrassed owing to her extravagance, she sold as building land, reserving only a portion of the gardens on which, at enormous expense, she erected Cleveland House, which considerable mansion was...furnished at the royal expense. It proves her influence that in the following year she received a grant of nearly 5000 pounds a year chargeable upon the revenues of the Post Office; and in 1670 was created Baroness Nonsuch of Nonsuch Park, Surrey, Countess of Southampton and Duchess of Cleveland with remainder to her first and third natural sons, Charles and George. . . ." (Melville. The Windsor Beauties: 64)

"Charles paid dearly for his relationship with Louise, however, as she became renowned for her luxurious tastes. She was given lavish accommodation at Whitehall, which by the 1670s comprised around forty rooms. With her pension and presents, she represented an estimated cost to the kingdom of 40,000 pounds per year. One famous story tells of how Charles once bought her jewellery to the value of 10,000 pounds as an apology for giving er a dose of venereal disease. He also bestowed on her the titles Baroness Petersfield, Countess of Fareham and Duchess of Portsmouth, while Louis XIV of France created her a Duchess in the 1680s. Because of the difficulty of pronouncing her name the common people usually referred to Louise as 'Mrs. Carwell'. Although Louise was Charles's newest lover, this does not mean that he accorded her any kind of romantic fidelity: he continued his many casual sexual encounters as well as his relationships with Barbara and Nell. Louise never forgot the way that Buckingham had treated her by deserting her in Dieppe. She bore him a grudge and instead of an ally he now had another enemy in an influential position. The feeling of loathing was, by now, mutual." (Charles II and the Duke of Buckingham)

Cashing in upon retirement.
"At last she decided that it was time to cash in her chips. A few days after Pepys made his remark about Castlemaine's tyrannical hold on the king, she had herself pensioned off. The illustrious lady was granted a life pension of 4,700 pounds a year, and was later given the new title of Lady Cleveland as a king of long-service medal. She was also presented with the beautiful Elizabethan Nonsuch Palace, near Cheam in Surrey, as a retirement gift. Rapacious to the last, she had the building stripped of anything of worth and sold it; she rented out the gardens and grounds as farmland; and she left the shell of the palace to fall down." (Inside Pepys' London: 99)

Affair's end & aftermath.
"In 1670, with Barbara’s affair with Charles drawing to a final close, as Barbara grew older and the king turned to younger lovers, Charles made her Baroness Nonsuch as she was the owner of Henry VIII’s Nonsuch Palace, he also named her Countess of Castlemaine and Duchess of Cleveland, unusually declaring her Dukedom of Cleveland would pass to her first son, Charles Fitzroy, on her death. All honours for favours served of course and perhaps parting gifts. This was the rumour running through the court at the time." (Stories from History)

" . . . Her epic tantrums and relentless greed had grown intolerable, and Charles was ready to get rid of her. . . As parting gifts Barbara was given the title Duchess of Cleveland as well as Henry VIII's magnificent palace Nonsuch, which she promptly ordered dismantled and sold for scrap." (Farquhar: 134)

Keeping appearances up.
She married 1) in 1659 Roger Palmer (d.1705), a wealthy law student, created Earl of Castlemaine, 1670; and 2) in 1705, annulled 1707, Robert ('Handsome') Fielding. "...By the seventeenth century, kings had adopted a slightly more humane solution---exiling the husband to foreign parts under the cover of a diplomatic mission. Such was the case of Roger Palmer, the husband of Charles II's Barbara, Lady Castlemaine. Roger trudged grudgingly about the courts of Europe on Charles's orders. He was yanked back whenever Barbara was about to give birth to a royal bastard, and he was expected to hover solicitously until after the birth as if the child were his." (Herman: 83)

Offspring.
"Mrs Palmer, afterwards Countess of Castlemaine and Duchess of Cleveland, mistress en titre till she was superseded by the Duchess of Portsmouth, mistress of Charles II of England, with whom she had: Charles Fitzroy, Duke of Southampton and Cleveland, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Grafton, George Fitzroy, Duke of Northumberland, Anne, countess of Sussex, Charlotte, countess of Lichfield, and Barbara, a nun."

Beneficiaries & Patronages.
The King appointed her husband, Roger Palmer, Earl of Castlemaine and Baron Limerick in 1661.

The one thing that is reasonably certain is that none of her children could count her husband Roger as their father, although he does not appear to have complained too much and quietly accepted the title of Earl of Castlemaine in 1670. The Complete Peerage, not normally given to such outbursts of emotion refers to this creation being "conferred as actual wages of prostitution". although the letters patent specified that the title should descend to his wife's male heirs rather than his. His wife was however not satisfied with being a mere countess and insisted on being created the Duchess of Cleveland in 1670. The Complete Peerage, not normally given to such outbursts of emotion refers to this creation being "conferred as actual wages of prostitution". The three sons all received dukedoms. Firstly there was Charles Fitzroy born circa 1662 who became the Duke of Southampton and as the eldest son also inherited his mother's titles. Secondly there was Henry Fitzroy, born 28th September 1663 was married off to the heiress of the Earl of Arlington and created first Earl of Euston and then Duke of Grafton in 1675. Finally there was George Fitzroy, born 28th October 1665, created Earl of Northumberland in 1674 and Duke of Northumberland in 1683. George Fitzroy died without issue on the 28th June 1716 at the age of fifty, and the Southampton title expired after the second generation but the Dukes of Grafton remain with us to this day. Of the three daughters, the eldest Anne Fitzroy, born 25th February 1662 married Thomas Lennard, Earl of Sussex, whilst Charlotte Fitzroy born 5th September 1664, married Edward Henry Lee, 1st Earl of Lichfield and bore him a prodigious number of children. The last daughter Barbara Fitzroy born 16th July 1672,(who many think was really fathered by John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough) became a prioress at the Hotel de Dieu at Pontoise in France where she died on the 6th May 1737 at the age of sixty-four." (everything2.com)

" . . . 'Cousin Barbara,' who, after presenting the king with several bastards had begun a sequence of amours with lovers of diverse skills and social class: Henry Jermyn, Baron of Dover; Charles Hart the actor; and Jacob Hall, an acrobatic rope-dancer reportedly able to perform even the impossible contortions in Arentino's Postures. Various other lovers were also mentioned by the gossips." (Johnson: 145)

"This lady who made so distinguished a figure in the annals of infamy, was Barbara, daughter and heir of William Villiers, Lord Viscount Grandison, of the kingdom of Ireland, who died in 1642, in consequence of wounds received at the battle of Edge-hill. She was married, just before the Restoration, to Roger Palmer, Esq., then a student in the Temple, and heir to a considerable fortune. In the 13th year of King Charles II. he was created Earl of Castlemaine in the kingdom of Ireland. She had a daughter, born in February 1661, while she cohabited with her husband; but shortly after she became the avowed mistress of the king, who continued his connection with her until about the year 1672, when she was delivered of a daughter, which was supposed to be Mr. Churchill's, afterwards Duke of Marlborough, and which the king disavowed. Her gallantries were by no means confined to one or two, nor were they unknown to his majesty. In the year 1670, she was created Baroness of Nonsuch, in Surrey, Countess of Southampton, and Duchess of Cleveland, during her natural life, with remainder to Charles and George Fitzroy, her eldest and third son, and their heirs male. In July 1705, her husband died, and she soon after married a man of desperate fortune, known by the name of Handsome Fielding, who behaving in a manner unjustifiably severe towards her, she was obliged to have recourse to law for her protection. Fortunately it was discovered that Fielding had already a wife living, by which means the duchess was enabled to free herself from his authority. She lived about two years afterwards, and died of a dropsy, on the 9th of October, 1709, in her 69th year. Bishop Burnet says, "she was a woman of great beauty, but most enormously vicious and ravenous; foolish, but imperious; very uneasy to the king, and always carrying on intrigues with other men, while yet she pretended she was jealous of him. His passion for her, and her strange behaviour towards him, did so disorder him, that often he was not master of himself, nor capable of minding business, which, in so critical a time, required great application." -- Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. p. 129." (Grammont)

Barbara, Duchess of Cleveland's other lovers.
1) Alexis-Henri, Marquis de Chatillon (1650-1737).

"Alexis Henry, Marquis de Chatillon, a handsome but penniless gentleman with whom the duchess had a liaison in Paris."(Wilson. Court Satires of the Restoration: 30)

"Now to the Chevalier de Chastillon. In the pages of MM. Anselm and Du Tourney we have sought for the gentleman referred to by the Duchess, and the only person we find answering to his description is Alexis Henry dit le Marquis de Chastillon, Seigneur de Chantemerle, de la Rambaulure, &c., who was the first Gentleman to Louis XIV, and both the Governor of Chartres and Mestre de Camp of the regiment called after that city. He was created a Knight of the King's orders on December 31, 1688, and, as the Chevalier de Chatillon, is mentioned by the Marchioness de Sevigne in a letter of January 5, 1673-4. We hear also of him, if he was indeed the Duchess's lover, in 'Cullen with his Flock of Misses.'. . . . ." (A Memoir of Barbara, Duchess of Cleveland: 172)

2) Cardell Goodman (1649-1699)
Lover in 1678-1689
British actor, highwayman and Jacobite conspirator

" . . . His latter years were rendered more affluent by his becoming the paramour of the Duchess of Cleveland, but he was shortly detected in an attempt to poison two of her children, brought to trial for a 'misdemeanour,' and fined heavily. . . ." (Wikisource)

"In 1676 the duchess look up residence in France, returning to England at intervals. In 1682 she came back to stay and took the famous actor, Cardell Goodman, as her Gentleman of the Horse and lover." (Selected Brief Biographies)

"Perhaps sensing that the King's days were numbered, Barbara had returned from France in March and was living once again at Cleveland House, opposite St. James's Palace. Her live-in lover was Cardonell 'Scum' Goodman, now an actor at the Theatre Royal. When the King's Company was in crisis in the early 1680s Goodman had supplemented his income by becoming a highwayman, though by all accounts he overplayed his part and met with unlimited success. Even after setting up with Barbara and returning to the stage, he persisted in playing the brigand and manged to secure a pardon each time he was caught (about 200 occasions in all). Not content with robbery, he hired a cook to poison two of Barbara's sons, the Dukes of Grafton and Northumberland. He stood trial when the plot was discovered and was fined L1,000. Barbara, of course, forgave him immediately. He was handsome and devoted to her, and that's all that mattered in her book. . . ."
Charles II of England
3) Charles II of England
Lover in 1660-1670
" . . . Palmer (Barbara's husband) was an active royalist, closely involved in the plan to bring Charles back from exile. Through him, Barbara found herself involved with the royal cause. In the spring of 1660 she was asked by some of Palmer's associates to carry messages across the sea to Charles, now watching and waiting in Brussels. She gladly undertook this little adventure, and embarked on one of her own when she got there. In Belgium she became the lover of the king-in-waiting. She was back in England before the restored king arrived there in triumph in May 1660. Some accounts say that Charles spent his first night on English soil in her bed. It is more than likely that he did, since the king had granted to Palmer a house on King Street, ostensibly as a mark of gratitude for his clandestine services. Mrs. Palmer would now be living conveniently close to the palace at Whitehall. She was practically Charles's next-door neighbour." (Inside Pepys' London: 92)

Benefits from the relationship: " . . . As an 'illustrious lady of pleasure' she had managed to persuade him to pay her immense gambling debts, and she had amassed vast quantities of jewels, which she wore with great ostentation. She had acquired land and property. One year she had even demanded that Charles give her all the Christmas presents he had received from other monarchs -- and this he did without a murmur. . . . " (Inside Pepys' London: 98-99)

Cashing in upon retirement: "At last she decided that it was time to cash in her chips. A few days after Pepys made his remark about Castlemaine's tyrannical hold on the king, she had herself pensioned off. The illustrious lady was granted a life pension of 4,700 pounds a year, and was later given the new title of Lady Cleveland as a king of long-service medal. She was also presented with the beautiful Elizabethan Nonsuch Palace, near Cheam in Surrey, as a retirement gift. Rapacious to the last, she had the building stripped of anything of worth and sold it; she rented out the gardens and grounds as farmland; and she left the shell of the palace to fall down." (Inside Pepys' London:99)
Charles Berkeley
1st Earl of Falmouth
4) Charles Berkeley, 1st Earl of Falmouth (1630-1665)
British courtier.

"     Berkeley himself does seem to have been physically brave, gracious, modest, generous (especially to his family), even-tempered, and usually honest. His most nefarious recorded act was to defame Yorks new wife Anne Hyde [qv.], in the hope of dissolving the marriage, which many considered to be a disaster. He could be coarse in his conversation, but he married for love, as his own bride came from an impoverished Royalist family. She was a famous beauty, Mary, daughter of Colonel Hervey Bagot of Pipe Hayes, Warwickshire. Their union, in 1664, had only produced one daughter before he was killed; the earldom became extinct. He had no celebrated quarrels, and although he disliked Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon [qv.], and Prince Rupert [qv.] he had this in common with many of the court. His prominence in his time and his lack of consequence for it both derive ultimately from his pleasant mediocrity." (The Peerage)

Personality & character.
" . . . Clarendon wrote of him: 'A young man of dissolute life, and prone to all wickedness in the judgment of all sober men. . . He was young, and of an unstable ambition . . ." (Melville. The Windsor Beauties: 97)

Honours & Accomplishments: Baron Berkeley & Viscount Fitzharding (Ireland); Baron Bottecourt & Earl of Falmouth (England, 1664); Cavalry officer & Groom of the Stole to the Duke of York; Knighted (1660); Lieutenant Governor of Portsmouth (1660); MP for New Romney (1661); 1st Earl of Falmouth (1665)

"The Fitzroy family sprang from Barbara Villiers (1641-1709), Lady Castlemaine and later Duchess of Cleveland. . ., one of King Charles II's mistresses, by whom she had five or six children. Although initially and uncharacteristically reluctant to acknowledge Lady Castlemaine's second son, born in 1663, due to her suspected involvement with Sir Charles Berkeley. . ., Charles eventually did recognize the child as his. . . ." (TB Heritage)

5) Charles Hart.
Lover in 1668.
English actor

"Hart, who had been a captain in the army during the civil wars, had attached himself to the King's company, and proved the best actor of his time: the part for which he was most celebrated as 'Othello.' His intrigue with the royal mistress is alluded to by Pepys. '7th April, 1668, Mrs. Knipp, tells me that my Lady Castlemaine is mightily in love with Hart of their house; and he is much with her in private, and she goes to him and do give him many presents; and that the thing is most certain. . .' Hart quitted the stage in 1684, on the union of the King's company with that of the Duke of York." (Jesse. Memoirs of the Court of England During the Reign of the Stuarts, Vol 3: 192)
Henry Jermyn
1st Baron Dover
6) Henry Jermyn, 1st Baron Dover.
Lover in 1667.

7) Henry Savile (1642-1687)
English courtier & diplomat.

Groom of the Bedchamber to the Duke of York 1665-1672 & Charles II 1673-1678
Ambassador to France 1672-1673, 1678-1682
Member of Parliament 1673-1687
Vice-Chamberlain of the Household 1680.

Son of: Sir William Savile, 3rd Baronet.

" . . . Court affairs of the time included that between Henry Savile and the Duchess of Cleveland, who had ditched Mulgrave for him. In December, Savile and Mulgrave quarreled violently; Mulgrave -- as usual -- sent a challenge, and Rochester agreed to act as his friend's second, but the duel was prevented, though Savile was temporarily banished from the Court." (Pritchard. Passion for Living: John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester: 85)

"Of the three friends to Rochester, Henry Savile became the most cherished and intimate. Although he wrote a few satires, his major literary talent was expressed in letters, including a number to Wilmot. Savile was about six years older than his friend---he was born either 1641 or 1642---but they had a true marriage of minds despite the difference in ages. Savile's older brother, George, was heir to the title of Earl of Halifax; as a younger son Henry therefore had to get his own fortune." (Johnson. A Profane Wit: 79)
Jacob Hall
@Wikipedia
8) Jacob Hall (fl. 1668-1683)
Lover in 1668-1669
English rope-dancer

"Of Jacob Hall little need be said. He was remarkable for his professional agility, his handsome face, and the strength and elegance of his frame. The Duchess took him into favour and settled on him a pension. 'Their intimacy,' says De Grammont, 'was celebrated in many a song, but she despised all these rumours and only appeared more handsome than before.'" (Jesse. Memoirs of the Court of England During the Reign of the Stuarts, Vol 3:193)

"Hall is said to have rivalled his sovereign in the affections of the famous Duchess of Cleveland, from whom he received a regular salary. . . ." (Great & Eccentric Characters: 296)

Jacob's physical appearance & personal qualities.
"This man flourished in the reign of Charles the Second, and, according to all accounts, was the finest specimen of hte human form then in England. He was admired alike for the symmetry and elegance of his figure, and for his strength and agility. In the exercise of his art he exhibited the powers of a Hercules, while in his person were displayed all the charms of an Adonis." (Great & Eccentric Characters: 296)

9) James Hamilton (Col.) (d.1673)
Groom of the Bedchamber.

"In this same year we must introduce a new lover of Barbara's, the King's friend, Colonel James Hamilton, elder brother of the author of 'Memoires du Comte de Grammont,' and a married Groom of the Bedchamber. . . He died a soldier's death eleven years later, and the hero's portrait should yet rest in the gallery of the Duke of Abercorn, his descendant. . . ."
John Churchill
1st Duke of Marlborough
10) John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
Lover in 1668-1669.

"John Churchill, the future Duke of Marlborough, was an exact contemporary of Monmouth. From a family of West Country Cavaliers who had lost their fortune in the Civil wars, Churchill, like Monmouth, had drawn King Charles's indulgent eye. As a poor young courtier, Churchill had shared with the king the favours of his most insatiable mistress, Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland. Charles had even caught the impoverished young blade naked in Barbara's bedchamber, but said he forgave him, 'for he only did it for his bread'. . . ." (Jones. Tower: An Epic History of the Tower of London: 404)

They were an unlikely couple: Barbara, vivacious, spirited and quick to anger; Roger, quiet, pious and religious. Barbara quickly tired of marriage. She seduced the libertine young Earl of Chesterfield, who was entranced by Barbara’s alabaster skin and sensual mouth." (Historic UK)

11) John Ellis (1643-1748)
" . . . the most respectable of these was John Ellis, a man two years her junior, who at one time engaged in diplomacy, and became an Under-Secretary. . . In a poem called 'The Town Life,' he was perhaps a little unfairly, in connection with this affair, described as 'that epitome of lewdness, Ellys'. . . ." (Melville. The Windsor Beauties: 65)
John Sheffield
1st Duke of Buckingham
12) John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham.
Philip Stanhope
2nd Earl of Chesterfield
13) Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield.
Lover in 1654-1656.

" . . . A beautiful wanton, Barbara lost her virginity to Philip Stanhope, second Earl of Chesterfield, about 1656...." (Selected Brief Biographies)

" . . . At the age of 17, she embarked on an affair with the dashing Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield. The liaison was not interrupted by her marriage in 1659, at the age of 19, to a young man named Roger Palmer. . . ." (Inside Pepys' London:92)
Ralph Montagu
Duke of Montagu
@Wikipedia

14) Ralph Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu
Lover in 1673-1675

Baron Montagu of Boughton 1684; Earl of Montagu 1689; Privy  Councillor 1689; Duke of Montagu 1705

Husband of Elizabeth Cavendish, wealthy widow of the 2nd Duke of Albemarle. Allegedly mad, she had sworn to marry only a crowned head, so Montagu wooed her disguised as the emperor of China.

"Montagu’s gallantry to women reputedly secured him early appointments at the court. He was ambassador to France in 1666 and 1669, but his purchase of the mastership of the wardrobe in 1671 strained his resources, which were replenished in 1673 by his marriage to Elizabeth Wriothesley (d. 1690), the wealthy widow of the Earl of Northumberland. Montagu became a privy councillor in 1672. In 1676, again ambassador in France, he had simultaneous affairs with the Duchess of Cleveland and her cloistered daughter, the Countess of Sussex. Denounced to King Charles II by the outraged mother (who claimed that Montagu had disparaged the king), Montagu was dismissed from his posts in 1678, when he returned to England without leave in order to defend himself. In revenge he precipitated the impeachment of the Earl of Danby (whose secret negotiations with Louis XIV of France he revealed to the House of Commons), causing the dissolution of Parliament. A political crisis ensued, which was soon enveloped in the Popish Plot (an alleged conspiracy to massacre Protestants, murder the king, and burn London)." (Britannica)

1st Duke of Montagu's other lovers.
Jane Myddelton ( Lover in 1664 - 1668)
Anne Lennard, Countess of Sussex (Lover in 1678 - 1679)
Robert Fielding
the Handsome Fielding

15) Robert Fielding (1650-1712)
Lover in 1705-1707.
English bigamist and rake.
M.P. for Gowran (1689).

"His crucial qualification in becoming a dandy was running up vast amounts of debt and marrying rich woman to pay it all for him - in this case the widowed Duchess of Cleveland. The twist in handsome Bob's tale is that the women turned out not to be rich at all - and was merely a 'decoy' put into place by the Duchess of Cleveland's watchful staff to save her from her terrible fate. Undeterred, Fielding continued his pursuit of the Duchess, finally getting his woman in 1705." (Hornet)

Beau Fielding's physical appearance & personal qualities.
"Beau Fielding was thought worthy of record by Sir Richard Steele, as an extraordinary instance of the effects of personal vanity upon a man not without with. He was of the noble family of Fielding, and was remarkable for the beauty of his person, which was a mixture of the Hercules and the Adonis. It is described as having been a real model of perfection. . . ." (dandysme)
William Wycherley
16) William Wycherley (1640-1715)
Lover in 1672.
English dramatist & playwright

"Lady Castlemaine . . . was impressed by the manly physique of the playwright. A few days later as he was strolling in Hyde Park, Wycherley saw Castlemain's carriage roll by and the lady herself leading provocatively out of the window, laughing and shouting (according to one version): 'You, Wycherley, you are a son of a Whore.' Realizing the invitation for what it was, Wycherley called on the lady a few days afterward and in short order became her lover. At a later performance he was seen sitting at Castlemain's feet, engaged in playful discourse. . . ." (Johnson. A Profane Wit: 145)

"The last person whom the Duchess honoured with her favours, previous to her separation from Charles, was William Wycherley, the gay and handsome port. Their coaches were one day passing each other in Pall Mall, when to his astonishment the Duchess thrust her head out of the carriage window, and exclaimed,---'You, Wycherley, you are a son of a ____.' The poet was at first somewhat confused, but...he considered it as a compliment to his wit, and immediately drove after her carriage into the park. . . . " (Jesse. Memoirs of the Court of England During the Reign of the Stuarts, Vol 3: 192)
Elizabeth Chudleigh
Duchess of Kingston
(1720-1788)

Maid of Honour to Augusta, Princess of Wales (1738)
English adventuress

Wife of:
1. Augustus John Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, mar 1744
2. Evelyn Pierrepont, 2nd Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull, mar 1769.

Elizabeth's personal & family background.
"This beautiful, but eccentric woman, was the daughter of Colonel Chudleigh, Lieutenant-Governor of Chelsea Hospital, a younger son of Sir George Chudleigh of Ashton, in Devonshire; she was born about the year 1730.  Her family appears to have been a respectable one; one of her ancestors having distinguished himself in the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and another in the cause of Charles the First during the civil troubles.  Her father died when she was a mere child, leaving her to the care of her other with little means of subsistence, beyond the pension which the latter received as the widow of an officer of the army, and afterwards the addition of a small income as housekeeper of Windsor Castle." (Jesse. Memoirs of the Court of England, Vol. 3: 319)
Lover in 1759.

"Elizabeth found her protector and the love of her life in Evelyn Pierrepont, the 2nd Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull. . . Evelyn was shy and retiring, but he was considered one of the handsomest in England, he was also interested in fishing and cricket, in fact the Duke was the subject of the first extant reference to the game of cricket in Nottinghamshire. It is not certain exactly when the Duke and Elizabeth made their acquaintance but by 1752, there were references to the relationship in letters from various courtiers." (Scandalous Woman)

". . . Elizabeth acquired a reputation at court, becoming mistress of the Duke of Kingston in 1759, and marrying him in 1765.  In 1773 she inherited his estate, but was eventually tried for bigamy in 1776, after holding a banker at gunpoint in Rome to get money to return to England to defend herself. . . ." (Uglow & Hendry. The Northeaster Dictionary of Women's Biography: 125)
" . . . Almost at once on her arrival at court the young Duke of Hamilton fell in love with her.  He was just off on his European tour but promised faithfully to marry her on his return.  An aunt of hers, set against the match, intercepted his letters. . . ." (Rizzo. Companions Without Vows: 67)

" . . . (I)t was James the 6th Duke of Hamilton (1724-1758) who fell in love with Elizabeth Chudleigh and then madly in love with Elizabeth Gunning, who he quickly married. . . ." (Duchess of Devonshire)

" . . . According to many of her biographers, however, Elizabeth had made an even more exalted conquest, no less than James, sixth Duke of Hamilton, though clearly no one else had noticed for there was no recorded gossip about it.  At this time the Duke was only nineteen, not yet legally an adult, and the reputed romance was, it was said, interrupted by his departure for a tour of the Continent, with which no young gentleman's education was complete, forcing the supposed lovers to part with many promises on both sides." (Gervat. Elizabeth: The Scandalous Life of an 18th Century Duchess: 24)

Colonel Mikhail Aleksandovich Garnovsky
" . . . One of his officers, Colonel Mikhail Garnovsky, 'took care' of her. Garnovsky was what might be called a tradesman--soldier: he was Potemkin's spy, adviser and commercial agent and now added gigolo to his curriculum vitae. He became the lover of the Duchess who had to spend 'five or six hours at her toilette' and was almost a definition of 'mutton dressed as lamb'. . . ." (Sebag. Potemkin: Catherine The Great's Imperial Partner: 198)
Husband of: Anna Maria Gumley (1696-1758), mar 1714) 
English courtesan

" . . . [A]lthough Chudleigh claimed that her start in fashionable life, a position as maid of honor at the court of the Prince of Wales, was obtained ofr her by her family, it was in fact a gift from William Pulteney (the Earl of Bath in 1742 and more than thirty years her senior), reputed to have been one of her earliest lovers." (Rizzo. Companions Without Vows: 64)
Augustus John Hervey
3rd Earl of Bristol
"Elizabeth's spouses & children:
 . . . Elizabeth Chudleigh was introduced to a young naval lieutenant on leave from his ship the Cornwall, then lying at Portsmouth.  The Honourable Augustus John Hervey had two things to recommend him.  First, despite being too fleshy to be truly handsome, he was evidently charming.  His diary reveals that, although he was only twenty when he met Elizabeth, he already had a not-inconsiderable experience of being pleasing to women, though it would pale into insignificance compared with the number and variety of the future conquests he recounts.  Secondly, he was the grandson of the Earl of Bristol, and only a frail older brother stood between him and the title.  On both counts he was a perfectly acceptable escort, and it would have been no dishonour for the pretty Maid of Honour to lead off the dancing at the race ball with the 'gallant and gay Lothario', as she called him." (Gervat. Elizabeth: The Scandalous Life of an 18th Century Duchess: 25)

Elizabeth's physical appearance & personal qualities.
"The formidable charm Chudleigh possessed, combined with her beauty---she had beautiful blue eyes, dark brown hair, and a lily-white skin---and autocratic nature, produced the likeness of a young prince, exercising authority, developing her  wit and verbal skills, and living the outdoor life that made her an accomplished horsewoman and intrepid traveler. . . ."  (Rizzo. Companions Without Vows: 64)

Character or persona.  
" . . . The Duchess of Kingston (also Countess of Bristol) made her name when she was still Elisabeth Chudleigh by appearing naked at the Venetian Ambassador's Ball in London in 1749. By the time this ageing and slatternly self-publicist visited Petersburg in a luxurious yacht in the 1770s, she was the most scandalous woman in England, having been found guilty of bigamy. Potemkin, who fancied her art treasures, arranged for an adjutant to become her lover." (Sebag. Potemkin: Catherine The Great's Imperial Partner: 648)
Elizabeth Murray
Duchess of Lauderdale
@Wikipedia
Duchess of Lauderdale
(1626-1698)
British aristocrat
Elizabeth, Countess of Dysart
John Maitland
1st Duke of Lauderdale
Her lovers were:
Lover in 1669-1672.

Scottish politician & leader in the Cabal Ministry.

1st Duke of Lauderdale; 2nd Earl of Lauderdale; 3rd Lord Thirlestane; Earl of Guilford & Baron Petersham (1674).

2) Oliver Cromwell.
" . . . It wasn't until her forties, when Elizabeth's political manoeuverings as Duchess of Lauderdale were frowned upon, that she was rumoured to have been not only Earl Lauderdale's mistress when they were both married to other people, but also Cromwell's mistress, suspected of spying for both sides during the Interregnum." (English History Authors)

"Elizabeth preferred to commit her treason as a double agent, using her god-given double assets. As the English Civil War raged, she married Sir Lionel Tollemache, whose political neutrality put her in the perfect to play both sides. When the puritan tyrant Oliver Cromwell ousted the monarchy, she was rumored to have bedded him to obtain government secrets! Her political rivals accused her of witchcraft, a favorite method of sexists for disposing of uppity women. She also used her (sexual?) influence over Cromwell to prevent the execution of another lover, John Maitland. . . ."  (Sartle)

Elizabeth's physical appearance & personal qualities.
"She was a woman of great beauty, but of far greater parts. She had a wonderful quickness of apprehension, and an amazing vivacity in conversation. She studied not only divinity and history, but mathematics and philosophy. She was violent in every thing she set about, a violent friend, but a much more violent enemy. She had a restless ambition, lived at a vast expanse, and was ravenously covetous; and would have stuck at nothing by which she might compass her ends. She had blemishes of another kind, which she seemed to despise, and to take little care of the decencies of her sex." (English History Authors)
Catherine Bruce Murray
Personal & family background.
Elizabeth was the daughter of William Murray, 1st Earl of Dysart and Catherine Bruce Murray. "Elizabeth's father, William Murray, Earl Dysart, a Gentleman of the Bedchamber to King Charles I and one of his closest friends, was once his 'whipping boy', and received chastisement for the young royal. Murray was Charles I's envoy and made many dangerous trips across country and the continent for his master." (English History Authors)
Ham House North Front
"Scotsman William Murray, his wife Catherine Bruce and their four daughters lived at Ham House on the Thames at Richmond, a property given to them by King Charles I to mark their close boyhood friendship when William would accept a whipping for the transgressions of the young prince." (History and Women)
Elizabeth Murray
Duchess of Lauderdale
c1651
Elizabeth's spouses & children: 

Wife of:
1. Sir Lionel Tollemache, a Suffolk baronet, mar 1647

"Elizabeth married Sir Lionel Tollemache 2nd Bart when she was twenty-one, a non political Suffolk landowner who attracted neither Royalist or Parliamentary attention. The marriage was a successful one, and secured Ham House for Elizabeth and her three sisters, and she bore him eleven children in twenty-two years, five of whom lived to adulthood." (English History Authors)

"In 1648, the Murrays arranged a marriage between Elizabeth and Sir Lionel Tollemache, 3rd Baronet, of Helmingham Hall in Suffolk, a wealthy and cultivated squire whose family came to England with the Norman invasion.  They had eleven children, of whom five survived to adulthood." (History and Women)
John Maitland & 
Elizabeth Murray
2. John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale, mar 1672

" . . . (W)hen Lionel died in 169, Lady Mary Lauderdale (John Maitland's first wife) went to Paris, apparently to distance herself from the burgeoning friendship between her husband and Elizabeth.  Mary died in 1672 and six weeks later, to the outrage of London society, John Maitland, Earl of Lauderdale and Lady Elizabeth Tollemache were married." (English History Authors)
Elizabeth Murray
Duchess of Lauderdale
"This portrait shows Elizabeth Murray the Duchess of Lauderdale, at the zenith of her political and cultural influence.  From a Scottish family which rose to prominence at the court of Charles I, Elizabeth received an intellectual education unusual for a woman.  Following the death of her first husband, Sir Lionel Tollemache, Elizabeth married John Maitland the 2nd Earl of Lauderdale in 1675. Known for their extravagance and extensive patronage, this portrait painted in the grand manner of the European Baroque, emphasises the duchess's status. Gennari had depicted her sitting in a high backed chair with a parrot perched on her hand, both signifiers of wealth and social standing." (National Galleries)
Jane Maxwell
Duchess of Gordon
(1748-1812)
Scottish political hostess

Daughter of: Sir William Maxwell, 3rd Baronet of Monreith & Magdalene.

Wife of: Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon, mar 1767, div 1805

Personal background.
" . . . Born Jane Maxwell, she was a famous beauty who was celebrated in song as 'The Flower of Galloway'. Her early years were in stark contrast to her later life. As a child growing up in genteel poverty in the heart of the Old Town in Edinburgh, she her sister used to ride down the Royal MIle on the backs of pigs of being driven to market. As a teenager, the philosopher Henry Home, later Lord Kames, took her under his wing. Kames was a leading figure in the Scottish Enlightenment and he found in Jane an intelligent pupil, who loved literature and had a quickness of mind. . . ." (Peill. Glorious Goodwood: A Biography of England's Greatest Sporting Estate)

Her spouse & marriage.
" . . . When she was seventeen, she married Alexander, Duke of Gordon, head of one of Scotland's most illustrious families, and became a sparking hostess 'who was the life of all circles she entered.'" (Peill. Glorious Goodwood)

"Sadly, the marriage was not a happy one and the couple became permanently estranged. The Duke had a long-term mistress, Jane Christie, whom he married after Jane's death. After their separation, Jane lived at Kinrara, a house on the River Spey in Inverness-shire." (Regency History)

Her lovers were:
1) Henry Dundas.
"She was a devoted supporter of William Pitt and was intimate with both him and his best friend and closest advisor, Henry Dundas, who was reputedly also her lover. Sometimes she attended the House of Commons to hear a debate and even acted as a 'whipper-in' of ministers." (Regency History)

"Their marriage quickly proved to be a loveless one. Jan'es first son was born around the same time as a mistress gave birth to her husband's bastard. They were both named George, 'My George and the Duke's George.' The Duke continued to have affairs and Jane, never to be outdone, had some of her own, notably, Henry Dundas, William Pitt's friend. . . ." (The Duchess of Devonshire's Gossip Guide to 18th Century)

2) Thomas Fraser.
Lavinia Fenton
Duchess of Bolton
British singer, actress & dancer
Charles Powlett
3rd Duke of Bolton
Lover in 1728.

" . . . (S)he captured the heart of Charles Powlett, Third Duke of Bolton, twenty-five years her senior and separated from his wife his father had forced him to marry. . . They lived happily together for many years, Lavinia bearing the Duke three sons, who entered the church, army and navy.  In 1751 the estranged Duchess died and the Duke took immediate steps to marry Lavinia and make her the new Duchess of Bolton.  She outlived him, dying a rich widow in 1760." (White. London In The Eighteenth Century: A Great and Monstrous Thing: 378)

"The notoriety Lavinia Fenton achieved did not deter the third Duke of Fenton. In July 1728, soon after Lavinia had quit the stage, Swift wrote that the 'Duke of Bolton has run away with Polly Peachum, having settled four hundred per year on her during pleasure, and, upon disagreement, two hundred more.' No serious disagreement developed, and Lavinia lived happily with her paramour for 23 years, waiting for the death of the Duchess. When that came in 1751, the Duke married Lavinia in Aix-la-Chapelle, and gave her a title. She had lived in Old Bond Street in 1730 (set up there by the Duke, apparently); after their marriage the couple lived in Tunbridge Wells because of the Duke's failing health." (Highfill. Eagan to Garrett: 224)

Portuguese Nobleman.
" . . . Lavinia's mother . . . designed to sell her daughter to any likely prospect and in 1725 was just about to do so when Lavinia made her own bargain with 'a Portuguese Nobleman.'  He ended up in Fleet Prison after having squandered everything he had on Lavinia, but she remained faithful to him, despite an opportunity to take up with a young merchant with good prospects.  By selling her jewelry Lavinia 'purcas'd [the Portuguese's] Inlargement.' . .  . " (White. London In The Eighteenth Century: 221)

"Lavinia Fenton became an actress in 1726. She was successful, but when she appeared as Polly Peachum in Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, she became the toast of London. On the opening night and on many subsequent nights, Lavinia was ogled from a box by Charles Paulet, 3rd Duke of Bolton. Although already (unhappily) married and older than Lavinia, he was besotted with her and, eventually, Lavinia gave up the theatre and ran away to France with the Duke. It appears to have been a happy and devoted relationship. The couple were together for twenty years and she bore him three illegitimate sons, Charles, Percy and Horatio Armand. The Duke even purchased the theatre box he had watched Lavinia from and had it installed in his local church as the family pew. On the death of the Duke’s wife in 1751, the couple married and Lavinia became a Duchess. The Duke died in 1754; Lavinia survived him by six years. She is buried in Greenwich." (The Secret History of Georgian London)

" . . . After her success as Polly she had a succession of lovers, among them a Duke and a Knight of the Garter.  She did not forget her stepfather, Mr Fenton, however, and provided him with a decent maintenance.  Nor did she neglect her Portuguese nobleman, with whom in 1728, according to the Life, she was once again living." (Eagan to Garrett: 221)

"The notoriety Lavinia Fenton achieved did not deter the third Duke of Bolton. In July 1728, soon after Lavinia had quit the stage, Swift wrote that the 'Duke of Bolton has run away with Polly Peachum. . . '  No serious disagreement developed, and Lavinia lived happily with her paramour for 23 years, waiting for the death of the Duchess. When that came in 1751, the Duke married Lavinia in Aix-la-Chapelle and gave her a title. . . ."  (A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers: 224)

Physical appearance & personal qualities.  
"Joseph Warton drew a flattering picture of Lavinia in her retirement:  She was a very accomplished and most agreeable companion; had much wit, good strong sense, and a just taste in polite literature.  Her person was agreeable and well made; thoush I think she could never be called a beauty.  I have had the pleasure of being at table with her, when her conversation was much admired by the first characters of the age, particularly old Lord Bathurst and Lord Granville." (Eagan to Garrett: 224)

Affair's development & aftermath.
"In this happy state the pair remained until the Duke of Bolton's death at Tunbridge Wells in 1754.  The Duke bequeathed all of his real and personal estate to Lavinia and made her his executrix.  By the Duke she had had three sons, but they were not born at a time to mane any of them eligible for the dukedom, which passed to the Duke of Bolton's brother in 1754.  Lavinia stayed on at Tunbridge Wells for a year or two after her husband's death and then moved to Greenwich.  According to Horace Walpole, Lavinia, late in life, married an Irish surgeon and left her fortune to him rather than to her sons." (Eagan to Garrett: 224)

Personal & family background.
" . . . According to the Life, she was born in 1708, the bastard daughter of a Navy Lieutenant named Bewswick.  Her father was lost at sea, and her mmother married a Mr Fenton in the Old Bailey.  Fenton set up a coffeehouse in Charing Cross and sent Lavinia, at the age of eight, off to boarding schoo.  Lavinia's mother, who had a succession of lovers, designed to sell her daughter to any likely prospect . . . " (Eagan to Garrett: 221)

Spouse & Children:  She married, in 1751, her lover, Charles Powlett, 3rd Duke of Bolton.

(1912-1993)
Duchess of Argyll
British socialite
Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll: 

Daughter of: Helen Mann Hannay & George Hay Whigham. a Scottish millionaire.
Charles Francis Sweeney
Wife of:
1) Charles Sweeney, American amateur golfer, mar 1933-1947
2) Ian Douglas Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll (1903-1973), mar 1951-1963

Margaret Whigham's personal & family background.
"The daughter of George Whigham, a self-made businessman from Glasgow who founded the British and Canadian Celanese Corporations, she was born on Dec. 1, 1912 and christened Ethel Margaret. She was educated at Miss Hewitt's Classes in New York, at Miss Wolff's in London, at Heathfield and with Mlle Ozanne in Paris. Miss Whigham was launched as a debutante in London with an extravagant coming-out ball in 1931."  (Telegraph)
Prince Aly Khan
Her lovers were:
1) Prince Aly Khan (1911-1960)
Lover in 1934.

"Thelma, meanwhile, was enjoying her American sojourn and doing her level best to lift the spirits of her twin. After two months abroad, she boarded the German liner, the Bremen, for the return trip home. On board was the Aga Khan's elder son, Prince Aly Khan. Although only twenty-three, this future husband of Hollywood movie queen Rita Hayworth already enjoyed a reputation as irresistible. One of his notable conquests had been Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, who met him at her presentation asa debutante at Buckingham Palace. According to her, 'I made a very slow curtsey in order to give myself time to take a good look at the Royal party. As I was rising, my attention was suddenly caught by an incredibly handsome young man standing behind the Queen. He was dressed in a white knee-length Indian tunic with a high military collar and a white turban glittering with an emerald the size of a large bird's egg. For a split second our eyes met before I had to turn and walk away from the throne. I wondered who he could possibly be. The next night I met him at Brook House at a ball given by Lord and Lady Louis Mountbatten. He was introduced to me formally as Prince Aly Khan. He was then nearly nineteen, dark haired, with magnificent brown eyes. We danced every dance together that evening. It was love first sight. He proposed marriage, Margaret accepted, but her father, the industrial George Whigham, refused to give his permission on racial grounds. Since then, Aly Khan had been cutting a very sexy swathe through the drawing rooms and boudoirs of the world's most desirable women, as if to say to their fathers, 'You might not want me to marry your daughters, but you can't keep me out of their beds.'" (The Queen Mother: The Untold Story of Elizabeth Bowes Lyon)
David Niven
@Wikipedia
2) David Niven (1910-1983)
Lover in 1928.
English actor.

"In 1928, David Niven had sex with the 15-year-old Margaret Whigham, during a holiday at Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. To the fury of her father, she became pregnant as a result. Margaret was rushed into a London nursing home for a secret termination. 'All hell broke loose,' remembered her family cook, Elizabeth Duckworth. Margaret didn’t mention the episode in her 1975 memoirs, but she continued to adore Niven until the day he died. She was among the VIP guests at his London memorial service." (Wikipedia)

". . . She was born Ethel Margaret Whigham to a multi-millionaire Scot and his wife, and, after an upbringing largely in the US where she was relieved of her virginity at 15 by the actor David Niven, she arrived in London to be unveiled as a debutante, the most beautiful of her era, according to Barbara Cartland. . . ." (Independent)
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

"But between 1959 and 1963 she was involved in a sensational and sordid divorce case, when her second husband, the 11th Duke of Argyll, Chief of the Clan Campbell and Hereditary Master of the Royal Household in Scotland, sued her for divorce on grounds of adultery. The court case lasted 11 days, and its piquant details included the theft of a racy diary, in which the Duchess listed the accoutrements of a number of lovers as though she was running them at Newmarket. The 50,000-word judgment, in which the Duke was granted a decree, was one of the longest in the history of the Edinburgh court. The Duchess was found to have committed adultery with three men named in her husband's petition and with a fourth, unidentified figure. A pair of photographs was produced in court showing the Duchess, naked save for three strings of pearls, engaged in a sexual act with a man whose face was not shown and who passed into folklore as 'the Headless Man'." (Telegraph)

"He invited the five key suspects - Sandys, Fairbanks, American businessman John Cohane, Peter Combe, an ex-press officer at the Savoy, and Sigismund von Braun, the diplomat brother of the Nazi scientist Werner von Braun - to the Treasury and asked for their help in a "very delicate matter". As they arrived, each signed the visitor's register. Their handwriting was analysed by a graphologist, and the results proved conclusive. As the broadcaster Peter Jay, then a young Treasury official, tells the documentary: "The headless man identified by the handwriting expert and therefore identified by Lord Denning, though he didn't write this down in his report, was, in fact, the actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr.'" (The Guardian)

British Minister of Defence

Glen Kidston
English aviator & motor racing driver.
7) John Cohane.
8) Joseph Slatton.
9) Baron Martin Stillman von Brabus, car salesman

Publishing heir.

11) Peter Combe.
a former press officer at the Savoy Hotel:

German diplomat

13) Theodore Rousseau (1912-1973)
Curator of Metropolitan Museum of Art
William H. Lyons
14) William H. Lyons.
American airline executive

Bill Lyons' personal & family background.
"His father was a lawyer, enabling him to give the Duchess guidance as the divorce case progressed.  But Lady Colin said that Lyons was already married to a woman who threatened to kill herself each time Lyons attempted to leave her for the Duchess, a factor that eventually brought the relationship with the Duchess to an end." (Telegraph)

"The 'headless man' who was subject of a 1963 sex scandal with Margaret, Duchess of Argyll has been named as an American airline executive, William 'Bill' H. Lyons.  The claim over the true identity was made by Lady Colin Campbell, the late Duchess's stepdaughter-in-law. . . Lady Colin said that the Duchess herself had told her the true identity of the man in the photo was Bill Lyons.  Lyons was sales director of Pan American Airlines and 'scion of a wealthy family' and was the Duchess's lover for six years. . .  Lady Colin -- known for her revelatory biography of Princess Diana -- said she had now chosen to reveal the Duchess of Argyll's secret as an opera about her, Thomas Ades' Powder Her Face, meant the Duchess was being 'immortalised on stage in an obscene scene' as a 'lady of loose morals'. . .  She said that the Duchess's family had known the identity for 50 years but it had been 'a secret shared only within the family'.  'Tp those of us who were close to her, it was hardly a surprise--Bill was her love after all.'" (Telegraph)
Mary Mordaunt
Duchess of Norfolk
@National Trust
(1659-1705)
John Germain
1st Baronet
Her lover was:
John Germain, 1st Baronet (1654-1714)
British soldier & politician

" . . . At Windsor Castle, in the autumn of 1685, Arundel (now Norfolk) discovered an intrigue between his wife and John Germaine, a handsome Dutch adventurer and gambler (1654-1714), said to be a bastard brother of William, Prince of Orange. (tradition has it that Germaine saved himself from the angry husband by jumping through a window into the Thames--a truly remarkable feat!).  The duke took his wife to France and shut her up in a nunnery.  After six month's incarceration (during which she turned Roman Catholic), the duchess promised to behave and was allowed to return to England.  Thenceforth the duke and the duchess lived separate lives, and the duchess managed to live incognito with her lover, Germaine." (Wilson: 271)

"Mary, Baroness Mordaunt, This lady, sole heiress of her father in the barony of Mordaunt, and of Beauchamp, of Bletso (or Bletshoe), was twice married, first to Henry, duke of Norfolk, from whom she was divorced; and secondly to Sir John Germaine, bart., to whom, at her death, in 1705, she left her magnificent seat at Drayton, in the county of Northampton, which on his death, in 1718, he gave to his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Charles, second earl of Berkeley. . . ."  (Banks: 331)

" . . . Mary (Mordaunt), Countess of Arundell, became Duchess of Norfolk on January 11, 1684, when her husband, Henry, inherited as seventh duke.  Her lover, the 'prince outlandish,' was a Dutch gambler, John Germaine, said to be the illegitimate son of William II of Orange. . . ."  (Wilson: 136)

" . . . At Windsor Castle, in the autumn of 1685, Arundel (now Norfolk) discovered an intrigue between his wife and John Germaine, a handsome Dutch adventurer and gambler (1654-1714), said to be a bastard brother of William, Prince of Orange. (Tradition has it that Germaine saved himself from the angry husband by jumping through a window into the Thames---a truly remarkable feat!). The duke took his wife to France and shut her up in a nunnery. After six months' incarceration (during which she turned Roman Catholic), the duchess promised to behave and was allowed to return to England. Thenceforth the duke and the duchess lived separate lives, and the duchess managed to live incognito with her lover Germaine." (Wilson: 271)

"The several attempts of Henry, 7th Duke of Norfolk, to divorce his erring wife by act of parliament, against stiff opposition from those anxious to protect her reputation and property, excited prurient interest and partisan sympathies.  The eminence of the principals made the case sensational: the duchess was the only child of the earl of Peterborough, and her lover, John Germain, a Dutch soldier and gambler, was rumoured to be King William's illegitimate half-brother. . . ." (Jones & Jones: 96)

Personal & family background:  Mary was the only child and heiress of Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough and of Lady Penelope O'Brien, daughter of Barnabas O'Brien, 6th Earl of Thomond.

Mary Mordaunt's Spouse & Children:  She married in 1677 (divorced 1700), Henry Howard, Earl of Arundel, later Duke of Norfolk.

John Germain's spouses:
Susan Douglas-Hamilton
Duchess of Newcastle
@Wikipedia
Duchess of Newcastle.

Her lovers were:

2) Lord William Pelham-Clinton (1815-1850)
(her brother-in-law)

"The fourth son of the 4th Duke of Newcastle, Lord William entered Christ Church College, Oxford, in 1833, and graduated B.A. in 1836. The following year, following an indiscreet affair, he was sent on the Grand Tour with his brothers, Lord Charles (1813-1894) and Lord Thomas (1813-1882). He died unmarried in 1850."  Nottingham)

"The first of many of Suzie Lincoln's indiscretions came to light in late January 1837, towards the end of a tedious holiday period at the Newcastle estate at Clumber in Nottinghamshire. . . What Suzie was really doing in secret was conducting an affair with one of her brothers-in-law. Starved of entertainment, she had created her own diversion by embarking on a heavy flirtation with Henry's younger brother, William. A letter to her from her brother-in-law was intercepted and headed to Lincoln. It hinted at smouldering passion. But more shocking than that: it elicited a bid for sympathy, by her, that was utterly disloyal to the devoted but humourless husband whom she openly accused of resuming marital relations sooner than she had wished after the birth of their second child. . . ." (Gladstone and Women: 74)

Lady Susan's personal & family background.
Susan was the daughter of Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton, and Susan Beckford.

She married:

"Their marriage was not a success and they were divorced in 1850 after a considerable scandal as his wife, who was considered by some to be mentally unstable, eloped and had an illegitimate child (Horatio Walpole) by Lord Horatio Walpole (later 4th Earl of Orford). . . ."  (Nottingham)

2. Jean-Alexis Opdebeeck, mar 1860
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