Afterword

There is something about the word mistress. It carries with it centuries of weight and meaning, and a whole world of unspoken sentiment. For the royal mistress those unspoken sentiments are magnified, and every move made by the woman at the side of a monarch takes on a new significance in the eyes of those who know them, who seek to profit from them, or who oppose them.

In Melusine von der Schulenberg and Henrietta Howard we see two women who circumstance and time dictated were to become the mistresses of powerful, deeply flawed men. Swept up in events that changed the face of the country and sometimes even the world, they were a quiet constant in the lives of George I and George II. One became as good as a wife, a lifelong companion who bore her partner three children and commanded the most ambitious courtiers as surely as any queen. The other was driven by different impulses, seeking safety and security as she fled a husband who had mistreated her for years. Yet in Melusine and Henrietta, there were as many similarities as there were differences. They survived by playing the game of court politics in their own way, by soothing bad-tempered royal brows and enduring criticism and suspicion not only from those who knew them, but also from those strangers who sought to condemn them as women who had dared to rise above their station.

Melusine and Henrietta were not the only mistresses of their respective kings, but they made an indelible impression on the royal households that knew them. Today the Duchess of Kendal and the Countess of Suffolk are as intriguing as ever. Their lives tell us much about the lot of the female favourite and the monarchs who they served. Few had better access to the ear of the sovereign than they did, and few career politicians could boast their diplomatic skills. They set the stage for a great many mistresses to come.

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