DUCHESS OF (16481702)

This article appears in Volume V23, Page 312 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: DRO-ECG

DUCHESS OF (16481702) , daughter of Walter Stewart, or Stuart, a physician in the

household

HOUSEHOLD, ROYAL

of Queen Henrietta Maria when in

exile

EXILE (Lat. exsilium or exilium, from exsul or exul, which is derived from ex, out of, and the root sal, to go, seen in salire, to leap,
consul
- CONSUL
- CONSUL (in Gr. generally ihraros,ashortened form of errpavgybs 8hraeos, i.e. praetor maximus)
, &c.; the connexion with solum, soil, country is now generally considered wrong)

after 1649, was born in 1648 and was brought up in France. Notwithstanding the desire of Louis XIV. to keep her at his court, she was sent to England by Henrietta Maria in '683, when she was appointed maid of honour to Catherine of Braganza, Queen of Charles II. Pepys describes her at this time as the greatest beauty he had ever seen, and Henrietta Maria called her the prettiest girl in the world. Charles II., who is said to have first seen " La belle Stewart " in the apartments of his mistress Lady Castlemaine (afterwards duchess of

Cleveland

), quickly became enamoured of her; but for some
time Miss Stewart resisted the king's importunities, though her behaviour was far from modest and " she had no aversion to scandal." She had numerous suitors, including the duke of Buckingham and Francis Digby, son of the

earl

EARL

of Bristol, whose unrequited love for her was celebrated by. Dryden. Her beauty appeared to her contemporaries to be only equalled by her childish silliness; but her letters to her husband, preserved in the British Museum, are not devoid of good sense and feeling. The king's infatuation was so

great

GREAT

that when the queen's life was despaired of in 1663, it was reported that he intended to marry Miss Stewart, and four years later he was considering the possibility of obtaining a divorce to enable him to make her his wife. This was at ,a time when Charles feared he was in danger of losing her as his mistress, her hand being sought in

marriage

MARRIAGE

by Charles Stuart, duke of Richmond and Lennox. The duchess of

Cleveland

, who was losing her hold on the king's affections, is reported by Hamilton to have led the king to Miss Stewart's apartment at midnight when Richmond was closeted with her, and the duke was immediately expelled from court. In

March

1667 the lady eloped from Whitehall with Richmond and married him secretly in the country. The king, who was greatly enraged, suspected Clarendon of being privy to the

marriage

MARRIAGE

, and, according to Burnet, deprived him of office for this offence. The duchess of Richmond, however, soon returned to court, where she remained for many years; and. although she was disfigured by small-pox in 1668, she retained her hold on the king's affections. Her husband was sent as

ambassador

AMBASSADOR (also EMBASSADOR, the form sometimes still used in America; from the Fr. ambassadeur, with which compare Ital. ambasciatore and Span. embajador, all variants of the Med. Lat. ambassiator, ambassiator, ambasator, &c., derived from Med. Lat. amba

to Denmark, where he died in 1672. The duchess was present at the

birth

BIRTH (a word common in various forms to Teutonic languages from the root of the verb " to bear ")

of the prince of Wales, son of James II., in 1688, being one of those who signed the certificate before the council. She died in 1702, leaving a valuable property to her nephew the

earl

EARL

of Blantyre, whose seat was named Lennoxlove after her.

End of Article: DUCHESS OF (16481702)

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/DRO_ECG/DUCHESS_OF_16481702_.html">
DUCHESS OF (16481702)
</a>

(Previous)
DUCHESNE, LOUIS MARIE OLIVIER (1843 )

(Next)
DUCIS, JEAN

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email