by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick, was the mistress of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom from 1889 until 1898, while he was The Prince of Wales. A renowned social hostess, she later put much of her time and effort – and fortune – into helping those less fortunate.

Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick – source: Wikipedia

Frances Evelyn “Daisy” Maynard was born in London on December 10, 1861, the daughter of Col. Charles Maynard and Blanche FitzRoy. Her father was the son and heir of Henry Maynard, 3rd Viscount Maynard. Daisy’s father Charles died several months before his father, resulting in the VIscountcy Maynard becoming extinct. As the elder child, Daisy inherited the majority of the Maynard estates and fortune. Daisy’s mother was descended from King Charles II in several different ways, through his mistresses Nell Gwyn, Barbara Palmer and Louise de Kéroualle.

Daisy had one younger sister:

• Blanche Maynard (1864) – married Col. Lord Algernon Gordon-Lennox, had issue

Two years after being widowed, Daisy’s mother married Robert St Clair-Erskine, 4th Earl of Rosslyn, a favorite of Queen Victoria. Through this marriage, Daisy had five half-siblings:

• Lady Millicent St Clair-Erskine (1867) – married Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 4th Duke of Sutherland, had issue
• James St Clair-Erskine, 5th Earl of Rosslyn (1869) – married (1) Violet Vyner, had issue (divorced); (2) Anna Robinson, no issue (divorced); (3) Vera Bayley, had issue
• The Hon. Alexander St Clair-Erskine (1870) – married Winifrede Baker, no issue
• Lady Sybil St Clair-Erskine (1871) – married Anthony Fane, 13th Earl of Westmorland, had issue
• Lady Angela St Clair-Erskine (1876) – married Lieutenant-Colonel James Forbes, had issue (divorced)

Having inherited her paternal grandfather’s estates and fortune in 1865, including the family seat, Easton Lodge in Essex, Daisy was greatly pursued as a potential bride. One prominent possibility was a marriage to Queen Victoria’s youngest son Prince Leopold. The Queen herself wanted to arrange a marriage, but it never came to be. Instead, Daisy fell in love with Leopold’s aide-de-camp Francis Greville.

Francis Greville, 5th Earl of Warwick. source: Wikipedia

On April 30, 1881, Daisy and Francis were married at Westminster Abbey, with several members of the Royal Family in attendance including The Prince and Princess of Wales. Daisy’s new husband was the eldest son and heir of George Greville, 4th Earl of Warwick and Lady Anne Wemyss-Charteris, daughter of the 9th Earl of Wemyss. Following their marriage, the couple lived at Easton Lodge, and after her husband succeeded as 5th Earl of Warwick in 1893, they moved to Warwick Castle.

Daisy and Francis had five children:

• Leopold Guy Greville, 6th Earl of Warwick (1882) – married Elfrida Marjorie Eden, had issue
• Marjorie Blanche Greville (1884) – married (1) Charles Duncombe, 2nd Earl of Feversham, had issue; (2) Sir William Gervase Beckett, 2nd Baronet, had issue
• The Hon. Charles Greville (1885) – died in childhood
• The Hon. Maynard Greville (1898) – married Dora Pape, had issue
• Lady Mercy Greville (1904) – married (1) Basil Dean, had issue; (2) Patrick Gamble, no issue; (3) Richard Marter, no issue

It is believed that only the couple’s first child was the legitimate child of Daisy’s husband. She alleged Lord Charles Beresford was the father of her elder daughter Marjorie and it is possible that her son Charles was also Beresford’s child. Her last two children were fathered by Joe Laycock, a wealthy bachelor with whom Daisy maintained a long-term affair despite his wandering ways.

The Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII; Credit – Wikipedia

Quickly rising in the ranks of London society, Daisy became one of the most celebrated hostesses amongst the Marlborough House Set – the upper echelon of society led by the Prince and Princess of Wales. When her affair with Charles Beresford became a public scandal in 1889, Daisy turned to the Prince of Wales for advice and support. This quickly turned into an affair that would last for nine years. The Prince would often visit her at Easton Lodge, where she had a rail station built closer to the house to make it easier for him to come and go more discreetly. After her husband succeeded his father as Earl of Warwick in 1893, the Prince of Wales became less discreet about his relationship with Daisy, often attending the theatre and other events together. This led to the Princess of Wales, who had formerly enjoyed Daisy’s company, to refuse to include Daisy in any further social events at Marlborough House and Sandringham.

After ending her affair with the Prince of Wales, Daisy threw herself into philanthropic work. Getting involved with the Social Democratic Federation, she fought for better working conditions, salaries, and education for women and those less fortunate. Within several years, she had depleted much of the fortune she had inherited from her grandfather, however, she refused an offer to write her memoirs and discuss her relationship with the then-King Edward VII. But after he died in 1910, her debt continued to increase and she began to consider the possibility of publishing her private letters. Her threats to publish them in the hopes of getting a financial settlement from the new King George V were unsuccessful. The King’s lawyers took the matter to court where it was decided that the Crown held the copyright to those letters and they could not be published in the United Kingdom. A subsequent threat to publish the letters in the United States was more successful. British politician Arthur Du Cros paid off a large amount of Daisy’s debt in exchange for the letters.

Daisy, Countess of Warwick in her later years. source: The Peerage

Having survived her husband for 24 years, The Dowager Countess of Warwick died at Easton Lodge on July 26, 1938, at the age of 76. She is buried at the Collegiate Church of Saint Mary in Warwick, England.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2020

Credit – Wikipedia

Nell Gwyn’s beginnings are uncertain. Generally, her birth is given as February 2, 1650. A horoscope done for Nell Gwyn by antiquarian and astrologer Elias Ashmole at the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford bears that date. As far as Nell’s birthplace, three cities make the claim: Hereford, London, and Oxford in England. It is thought that Nell’s father was Thomas Gwyn, an army captain who died or disappeared. Nell’s mother was born Helena Smith, known as Madam Gwyn, in the civil parish of St Martin-in-the-Fields in London, England, and lived there all her life. Nell had an older sister Rose and the two girls were brought up in one of the streets off Drury Lane, on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London. At that time, the area of Drury Lane was almost exclusively brothels and pubs and was considered the center of London prostitution. Nell’s mother worked as a tapwoman at the Rose Tavern on Russell Street and it can be assumed that she also worked as a prostitute and that Nell probably worked as a child prostitute.

When King Charles II was restored to the English throne in 1660 after ten years of protectorate rule by Oliver Cromwell and his son Richard Cromwell, he quickly reinstated the theater which the Cromwells had banned. In 1663, the King’s Company, led by Thomas Killigrew, opened a new playhouse, the Theatre in Bridges Street, which was later rebuilt and renamed the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Mary Meggs, a former prostitute nicknamed “Orange Moll” and a friend of Madam Gwyn’s, was granted a license to sell fruit and sweetmeats within the theater. Orange Moll hired Nell and her older sister Rose as scantily clad “orange-girls” to sell her wares to the audience inside the theater. The orange-girls were exposed to aspects of theater life and London’s higher society. The actors at the theater were the King’s Company and King Charles II frequently attended performances. The orange-girls also served as messengers between men in the audience and actresses backstage. They received monetary tips for this role and some of these messages would end in sexual assignations.

Previously in England, women’s roles had been played by boys or men. The new theatres were the first in England to feature actresses. Less than a year after becoming an orange-girl, fourteen-year-old Nell became an actress with the King’s Company. Nell could not read or write and had to learn her lines by having them read to her. Charles Hart, one of the fine male actors of the time, taught her the basics of acting, and John Lacy, a comic actor, and playwright, taught her dancing. Nell became the mistress of both John Lacy and Charles Hart.

Nell first appeared in smaller parts during the 1664–65 season but by 1665, she had become a more prominent actress. She was first mentioned in Samuel Pepys‘ famous diary on Monday, April 3, 1665, when Pepys had attended a play and mentioned “pretty, witty Nell”. This unusual use of only her first name would imply that Nell had made herself known both on the stage and off. Her first recorded appearance on-stage was in March 1665, in John Dryden‘s heroic drama The Indian Emperor, playing opposite Charles Hart. However, it was in the new form of restoration comedy that Nell would become a star. In May 1665, she appeared opposite Charles Hart in James Howard’s comedy All Mistaken, or the Mad Couple. This was the first of many appearances in which Nell Gwyn and Charles Hart played the “gay couple”, a pair of witty, antagonistic lovers, the man generally a rake fearing marriage and the woman pretending to do the same to keep her lover at arm’s length.

King Charles II of England; Credit – Wikipedia

The affair between Nell and King Charles II began in April 1668 when Nell was attending a performance at Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theater. Charles II was in the next box and was more interested in flirting with Nell than watching the play. Charles II invited Nell and her escort to supper, along with his brother the Duke of York. After supper, so the story goes, Charles II discovered that he had no money on him and neither did his brother, resulting in Nell having to cover the cost of the supper. “Od’s fish!” she exclaimed, in imitation of Charles II’s manner of speaking, “but this is the poorest company I ever was in!”

Between September 1668 and the spring of 1669, Charles II and Nell spent a great deal of time together. Nell would joke with Charles II, referring to two former lovers with the name Charles, that he was “my Charles the Third”. When Charles’ sister Henrietta Anne, Duchess of Orléans, came to England on a visit in 1670, she met Nell and gave her gifts. Shortly afterward Louise de Kérouaille, one of Henrietta Anne’s ladies-in-waiting also became a mistress of Charles II, however, Nell did not show any signs of jealousy. Unlike Barbara Palmer or Louise de Kérouaille, Nell did not insist on an apartment in the Palace of Whitehall either.

Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, son of King Charles II and Nell Gwyn, circa 1690; Credit – Wikipedia

Nell had two children with King Charles II:

• Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans (1670 – 1726), married Lady Diana de Vere, had 12 children, the descendants of Nell Gwynn and King Charles II have continued the line of the Dukes of St. Albans through the centuries
• Lord James Beauclerk (1671 – 1680), died young

Nell was famous for her wit and bawdiness. Some examples follow.

• Because of the general mistrust between England and France in the 17th century, Charles II’s French Catholic mistress Louise de Kérouaille was unpopular with the English people. Instead, most of the public adored the bawdy actress Nell Gwyn. One day, Nell was out for a carriage ride when she heard a crowd shouting at her about her supposed Catholic faith. Nell realized the crowd had mixed her up with Louise. She opened the carriage window and said, “Good people, you are mistaken. I am the Protestant whore.”
• When Charles II asked Nell to invite Anna Maria Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury to a party which Nell gave in his honor, Nell is said to have replied: “One whore at a time should be enough for you, sir.”
• In public, Nell is said to have asked the king several times and very directly whether he would come to her in the evening or not, “I hope I shall have your company at night, shall I?” As might be expected, Nell never hoped in vain to see the king at night.
• Charles II was careful about inviting Nell to the Palace of Whitehall, and Nell never asked for such invitations. She had no desire to act like a lady she was not and that she preferred to meet Charles in her own house in a far more informal atmosphere. Louise de Kérouaille, in contrast, was of French noble descent and moved into apartments in Whitehall in 1671. Both women seldom met in Whitehall, however, Charles loved to arrange day trips and picnics with all his mistresses and children. On one of these occasions, Louise is said to have congratulated Nell on her social rise by saying she was as rich as a queen. Referring to Louise’s new title Duchess of Portsmouth after the birth of her first and only son with Charles, Nell is said to have responded, “You are right, madam. And I am whore enough to be a duchess. “
• When Louise de Kérouaille ‘s son Charles Lennox was made Duke of Richmond, Nell was upset. Her two sons had not yet been provided with titles and lands, unlike Charles II’ other illegitimate sons. So when Charles II visited her in her house, Nell is said to have called to her son, “Come here, you little bastard, and say hello to your father!” When Charles reprimanded her not to insult the child with the label “bastard,” Nell replied, “Why, Sire, Your Majesty has given me no other name to call him by.” Soon thereafter, Nell’s firstborn son received the titles Duke of St. Albans, Earl of Burford, and Baron Headington.

Nell Gwyn, circa 1680; Credit – Wikipedia

Nell never received a title for “services to the king” or was showered with fortune and jewels like Barbara Palmer, Duchess of Cleveland or Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth. Charles II did give her an annual pension of £2,000 and several houses where she was famous for giving dinner parties. Despite many offers, she never returned to the theater. Nell never dared meddle in Charles’ personal or political issues, as Louise and Barbara did. She knew such discussions would only cause trouble and avoided these topics.

In July 1679, Nell’s mother, a well-known alcoholic at the end of her life, died. During a night walk, she is said to have fallen into a stream, passed out, and drowned. Nell had supported her mother financially and arranges a lavish funeral for her mother and burial in St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church in London. When her youngest son Lord James Beauclerk died in Paris, France in 1680, Nell was very distressed and accused herself of being responsible for his death. She had sent him to Paris for upbringing and training for a year, accompanied by his tutor. James is said to have died of an “open leg,” likely an infected wound after an accident.

When Nell learned of King Charles II’s serious illness at the beginning of February 1685, she wanted to see him, but she was not admitted to his bedchamber. Charles’ brother James, who would succeed his brother as King James II, let her know that she was not a member of the royal family. After Charles’ death, Nell was forbidden to wear mourning clothes and was not allowed to attend his funeral. However, on his deathbed, Charles remembered Nell when he told his brother James to look after his mistresses: “let not poor Nelly starve.” King James II eventually paid most of Nell’s debts and gave her an annual pension of £1,500. He also paid off the mortgage on Nell’s home in Bestwood, Nottinghamshire which remained in the Beauclerk family until 1940.

St. Martin-in-the-Field-Church where Nell Gwyn is buried; Credit – By Robert Cutts – Flickr: St Martin in the Fields, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31207964

In March 1687, Nell suffered a stroke, probably due to the effects of syphilis, that left her paralyzed on one side. Two months later, a second stroke left her confined to her bed at her Pall Mall, London house. On November 14, 1687, Nell Gwyn, aged 37, died from another stroke. Her funeral took place on November 17, 1687, in a packed St Martin-in-the-Fields Church in London, where she was also buried, with many more mourners lining the streets outside the church. Fulfilling one of Nell’s last requests, Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury, preached a sermon from the text of Luke 15:7 “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Beauclerk, Charles, 2005. Nell Gwyn: Mistress To A King. New York: Grove Press.
• De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Nell Gwyn. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nell_Gwyn> [Accessed 4 October 2020].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Nell Gwyn. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nell_Gwyn> [Accessed 4 October 2020].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2016. King Charles II Of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-charles-ii-of-england/> [Accessed 12 September 2020].
• Fraser, Antonia, 1979. King Charles II. London: Phoenix.
• Williamson, D., 1996. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2020

“The Crown” shared photos of Katherine and Nerissa Bowes-Lyon at the end of Season 4, Episode 7; Credit – Netflix/The Crown

In the Netflix series The Crown Series 4, Episode 7, The Hereditary Principle, Princess Margaret discovers from her therapist that she has two severely mentally disabled maternal cousins who were institutionalized and further learns that they are still alive although they have been listed as dead in Burke’s Peerage. Princess Margaret confronts her mother, the aunt of the two severely mentally disabled women. The Queen Mother responds as if she was part of a royal cover-up. She explains that her nieces were institutionalized because of fears that evidence of mental instability in the royal family could threaten the security of their claim to the throne after the 1936 abdication of King Edward VIII.  While it is true that Princess Margaret was unaware that she had two severely mentally disabled cousins and that they were listed as dead in Burke’s Peerage, the rest of the scenario is complete fiction, made up by the series’ creators. The Queen Mother believed her nieces were deceased and she was not aware of their situation until 1982.  Her nieces were institutionalized in 1941, five years after the abdication of King Edward VIII. It seems unlikely that after five years, the decision to institutionalize the Queen Mother’s two nieces was taken in reaction to the Bowes-Lyon family’s new close ties to the British throne.

John Bowes-Lyon; Credit – www.geni.com

In reality, in 1987, The Sun broke the news that two supposedly deceased first cousins of Queen Elizabeth II had been alive and secretly institutionalized. The two sisters, Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon, were the daughters of The Honorable John Bowes-Lyon (1886 – 1930), the second son of Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore (1855 – 1944), and an elder brother of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (1900 – 2002), and his wife Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck (1862 – 1938). Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and his wife Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck had ten children and twenty-six grandchildren. Two of their grandchildren were Queen Elizabeth II and her sister Princess Margaret. From their mother’s side of the family, Elizabeth and Margaret had 24 first cousins.

Fenella Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis; Credit – https://theroyalhistory.tumblr.com/

Nerissa and Katherine’s mother was The Honorable Fenella Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis (1889 – 1966), daughter of Charles Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, 21st Baron Clinton (1863 – 1957) and Lady Jane McDonnell (1863 – 1953), daughter of Mark McDonnell, 5th Earl of Antrim. Fenella had one sibling Harriet Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis (1887 – 1958) who married Henry Fane (1883 – 1947) and had seven children. Interestingly, three of their daughters had severe developmental disabilities similar to those of Nerissa and Katherine.

John Bowes-Lyon and his wife Fenella Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis had five daughters:

• Patricia Bowes-Lyon (1916 – 1917), died in infancy
• Anne Bowes-Lyon (1917 – 1980), married (1) Thomas Anson, Viscount Anson, son of Thomas Anson, 4th Earl of Lichfield, had one son and one daughter, divorced (2) Prince George Valdemar of Denmark, no children
• Nerissa Bowes-Lyon (1919 – 1986)
• Diana Bowes-Lyon (1923 – 1986), married Peter Somervell, had one daughter
• Katherine Bowes-Lyon (1926 – 2014)

John Bowes-Lyon died in 1930 of pneumonia, aged 44, leaving his widow Fenella to care for their four young children, including Nerissa and Katherine who were severely mentally disabled. Nerissa and Katherine had a mental age of about three-years-old and never learned to talk. In 1941, when Nerissa was 22-years-old and Katherine was 15-years-old, they were sent to Royal Earlswood Hospital in Redhill, Surrey, England. There is no information on why this decision was made. Perhaps, the sisters needed more care than could be given at home.

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The Royal Earlswood Hospital in Redhill, Surrey, England

Three of Nerissa and Katherine’s maternal first cousins with similar developmental disabilities were placed at Royal Earlswood Hospital, a facility for  230 mentally disabled men and women,  on the very same day as Nerissa and Katherine. The three maternal cousins were the sisters Idonea Fane (1912 – 2002), Rosemary Fane (1914 – 1972), and Etheldreda Fane (1922 – 1996), the daughters of Harriet Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis and Henry Fane. The five cousins were placed in Asylum Arch Road, Earlswood Common area of the hospital. In 1997, when Royal Earlswood Hospital closed, Katherine Bowes-Lyon and her cousin Idonea Fane, who were the only ones among the five cousins still living, were moved to Ketwin House Care Home in Surrey, England, and then when it closed in 2001, they were moved to another care home in Surrey. The mental disability the five cousins had probably was a genetic disorder and it originated not in the Bowes-Lyon family but rather in the Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis family. Idonea, Etheldreda, and Rosemary Fane were the children of Fenella’s sister Harriet, her only sibling. There was never any risk of that genetic disorder occurring in the British royal family descended from The Queen Mother, born Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, because it did not originate in the Bowes-Lyon family.

In 1987, it was discovered by The Sun that Burke’s Peerage, which publishes books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage, and landed gentry of the United Kingdom, had listed Nerissa and Katherine as having died in 1940 and 1961. Nerissa had died in 1986 and Katherine lived until 2014. Burke’s Peerage prides itself on its accuracy and insisted that was the information given to them by the Bowes-Lyon family.

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, Nerissa and Katherine’s aunt, in 1986; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1987, there was much criticism for the British royal family about how Nerissa and Katherine had been treated and there were even rumors that there had been a royal coverup although there is no evidence.  In 1982, after thinking her nieces had died, the Queen Mother learned that they were still alive and in the Royal Earlswood Hospital when the hospital’s League of Friends wrote to her. After that, she sent them money for their birthdays and for Christmas which was used to buy candy and toys. We do not know if the Queen Mother told anyone about her nieces after she learned they were alive in 1982. While today our attitudes regarding the care of mentally disabled people are different, an argument could be made that the sisters received the care that they needed as was understood during the years they were institutionalized. Previously, there was a huge amount of shame and lack of knowledge associated with mental disability.

What, if any, responsibility the British royal family had for Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon can be debated. In 1987, Buckingham Palace said, “It is a matter for the Bowes-Lyon family” and in reality, it was and there were plenty of members of the Bowes-Lyon family to deal with the matter. The members of the Bowes-Lyon family had the means and the familial responsibility to make the decisions regarding Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon as did the Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis family, the family of their mother.

Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore, the paternal grandfather of Nerissa and Katherine; Credit – Wikipedia

The Earl of Strathmore is the head of the Bowes-Lyon family and is also Chief of the Scottish Clan Lyon. Nerissa and Katherine’s grandfather Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore lived until 1944, three years after his two granddaughters were placed at Royal Earlswood Hospital. His son and the uncle of Nerissa and Katherine, Patrick Bowes-Lyon, 15th Earl of Strathmore (1884 – 1949) succeeded him and died in 1949. Then the 15th Earl’s son and Nerissa and Katherine’s first cousin Timothy Bowes-Lyon, 16th Earl of Strathmore (1918 – 1972) held the peerage title until 1972 when he was succeeded by his first cousin, and the first cousin of Nerissa and Katherine, Michael Bowes-Lyon, 17th Earl of Strathmore (1928 – 1987). Upon the death of the 17th Earl in 1987, he was succeeded by his son Michael Bowes-Lyon, 18th Earl of Strathmore (1957 – 2016) who died in 2016, two years after the death of Katherine Bowes-Lyon. These Earls, as head of the Bowes-Lyon family, presumably bore some responsibility for family matters.

Charles Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, 21st Baron Clinton, the maternal grandfather of Nerissa and Katherine; Credit – www.geni.com

Not only were there plenty of members of the Bowes-Lyon family to take responsibility but there were also members of the Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis family, Nerissa and Katherine’s maternal family. In 1987, it was revealed that Charles Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, 21st Baron Clinton (1863 – 1957) had paid funds to Royal Earlswood Hospital for the care of his five granddaughters. This would indicate that he played a role in the decisions regarding his five severely mentally disabled granddaughters.  In 1987, Gerard Fane-Trefusis, 22nd Baron Clinton, the great-grandson of the 21st Baron Clinton, rejected the idea of any kind of cover-up. Regarding the errors in the death dates in Burke’s Peerage, he said of his great-aunt Fenella, the mother of Nerissa and Katherine, “She was an elderly lady at that time. These forms (from Burke’s Peerage) come in every year or so and I imagine it was filled in wrongly or wasn’t filled in at all.” However, a spokesperson for Burke’s Peerage said, “If this is what the Bowes-Lyon family told us, then we would have included it in the book.”

Nerissa and Katherine’s sister Anne Bowes-Lyon, Princess of Denmark; Credit – www.thepeerage.com

Nerissa and Katherine’s mother, born Fenella Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, who was their next of kin, lived until 1966. After the death of their mother, their sister Anne (1917 – 1980), would have been the next of kin. After divorcing her first husband Thomas Anson, Viscount Anson (1913 – 1958), son of Thomas Anson, 4th Earl of Lichfield (1883 – 1960) Anne married Prince George Valdemar of Denmark, a great-grandson of King Christian IX of Denmark, and a second cousin of King George VI of the United Kingdom who was the father of Queen Elizabeth II.

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Nerissa and Katherine’s sister Diana Bowes-Lyon

Anne died in 1980 and then her younger sister Diana (1923 – 1986), would have been the next of kin. Presumably, after the death of Diana in 1986, the two children of her elder sister Anne, Patrick Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield (1939 – 2005), a well-known professional photographer whose professional name was Patrick Lichfield, and his sister Elizabeth Anson (1941 – 2020), wife of Sir Geoffrey Shakerley, 6th Baronet, would have been the next of kin for their aunts Nerissa and Katherine. Diana’s only child Katherine Somervell (born 1961), a goddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II who married Robert Lagneau, also would have been able to play a role in the decisions regarding her aunts. As with the Bowes-Lyon family, there were members of the Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis who had the means and the familial responsibility to make the decisions regarding Nerissa and Katherine.

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The grave of Nerissa Bowes-Lyon at Redstone Cemetery, in the center, marked by a small plastic tag at the foot of the headstone

In 1987, many British people were outraged and blamed the British royal family after finding out that when Nerissa died in 1986, she was buried in a pauper’s plot at Redstone Cemetery in Redhill, Surrey, England. Her funeral was attended by only Royal Earlswood Hospital staff members. Where were her Bowes-Lyon and Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis family members? When Katherine Bowes-Lyon died, aged 87, on February 23, 2014, a private family funeral was held.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Coke, Hope, 2020. Behind The Crown: The True Story Of The Queen’S Cousins, Nerissa And Katherine Bowes-Lyon. [online] Tatler. Available at: <https://www.tatler.com/article/real-story-nerissa-and-katherine-bowes-lyon-the-queens-cousins-the-crown-season-4> [Accessed 26 November 2020].
• Davison, Mark, 2014. Queen’s Cousin Dies After Spending 55 Years At Royal Earlswood Hospital. [online] SurreyLive. Available at: <https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/queens-cousin-dies-after-spending-13642685> [Accessed 27 November 2020].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Nerissa And Katherine Bowes-Lyon. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerissa_and_Katherine_Bowes-Lyon> [Accessed 26 November 2020].
• Esquire. 2020. The Queen’s Hidden Cousins Are Part Of A Shameful Chapter In Royal History. [online] Available at: <https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a34728377/queen-elizabeth-cousins-katherine-nerissa-bowes-lyon-asylum-true-story-the-crown-season-4/> [Accessed 26 November 2020].
• Genealogics.org. 2020. Leo’s Genealogics. [online] Available at: <https://www.genealogics.org/> [Accessed 26 November 2020].
• News.google.com. 1987. Royal Nieces Cover-Up Denied By Lord Clinton. [online] Available at: <https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SxA1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=sKULAAAAIBAJ&dq=nerissa%20bowes-lyon&pg=2382%2C1684307> [Accessed 26 November 2020].
• Radio Times. 2020. The Crown Fact-Check: Did The Queen And Margaret Really Have Two Secret Cousins With Developmental Disabilities?. [online] Available at: <https://www.radiotimes.com/news/on-demand/2020-11-15/queen-cousins-katherine-nerissa-bowes-lyon-the-crown/> [Accessed 26 November 2020].
• W Magazine | Women’s Fashion & Celebrity News. 2020. ‘The Crown’ Fact Check: Were The Queen’s Cousins Hidden In An Asylum?. [online] Available at: <https://www.wmagazine.com/story/queen-cousins-asylum-nerissa-katherine-bowes-lyon/> [Accessed 26 November 2020].

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Jennie Jerome was an American socialite who was briefly the mistress of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, among others. Through her first marriage, she was the mother of Prime Minister Winston Churchill. She is also reported to have had affairs with King Milan I of Serbia, Prince Karl Kinsky, and Herbert von Bismark.

Jennie Jerome – source: Wikipedia

Jeanette “Jennie” Jerome was born in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, New York on January 9, 1854, one of four daughters of Leonard Jerome and Clarissa “Clara” Hall. Leonard Jerome had become a very wealthy and prominent financier and stock speculator, earning the nickname “King of Wall Street” for the number of fortunes he made and lost through the years. Despite his losses, he always managed to recover and earn even more, providing his family with a very lavish lifestyle. The family’s home in New York City, the Jerome Mansion, was one of the prominent homes in the area and included a theatre that could seat 600 people.

Jennie had three sisters:

• Clarita “Clara” Jerome (1851) – married Moreton Frewen, had issue
• Camille Jerome (1855) – died in childhood
• Leonie Jerome (1859) – married Sir John Leslie, 2nd Baronet, had issue. Leonie also had a long-term affair with Prince Arthur, The Duke of Connaught, a younger brother of King Edward VII.

As was common at the time, Jennie’s mother took Jennie and her sisters to Europe, settling for some time in Paris before moving on to London in 1870 after the German invasion of France. In London, Jennie first met The Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII, and began a passionate affair that lasted for about two years. Jennie and The Prince of Wales remained close for the rest of his life and continued to see each other on occasion. She would be one of three former mistresses of The Prince of Wales to be invited to attend his coronation, joining Lillie Langtry and Sarah Bernhardt in a box at Westminster Abbey to view the ceremony.

Lord Randolph Churchill. source: Wikipedia

While attending a sailing regatta on the Isle of Wight in August 1873, Jennie was introduced (by The Prince of Wales) to her future first husband. Lord Randolph Spencer-Churchill was a younger son of John Winston Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough and Lady Frances Anne Vane. The couple was engaged within just three days, but it took several months for their parents to agree to a financial settlement. The Spencer-Churchills opposed the marriage, but after a $250,000 (several million dollars today) dowry was offered,  they quickly agreed to the marriage. The couple was married at the British Embassy in Paris on April 15, 1874, and Jennie became Jennie Jerome. The family surname was Spencer-Churchill, but they were known simply as Churchill.

Jennie with her two sons, c1889. source: Wikipedia

The couple had two sons:

• Sir Winston Leonard Churchill (1874-1865) – married Clementine Hozier, had issue. Sir Winston served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom under King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II.
• John “Jack” Strange Churchill (1880-1847) – married Lady Gwendoline Bertie, a daughter of the 7th Earl of Abingdon, had issue

George Cornwallis-West. source: Wikipedia

Lord Randolph Churchill died in 1895 and within a few years, Jennie met her next husband. She was introduced to George Cornwallis-West while attending a party held by The Countess of Warwick (another of Edward VII’s mistresses). Cornwallis-West, a member of the Scots Guards,  was just two weeks older than Jennie’s elder son, but the two quickly began a relationship. He was the son of William Cornwallis-West, a prominent politician, and Mary “Patsy” FitzPatrick, an Irish aristocrat who had once been the lover of the future King Edward VII in the early 1870s. George had two sisters. His elder sister, Daisy, married Prince Hans Heinrich XV von Hochberg, Prince of Pless. His younger sister, Constance (born in 1876) was the first wife of Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster.

Jennie and George were married on July 28, 1900, at St. Paul’s Church in Knightsbridge, London. At first, the marriage was happy but within about ten years the marriage began to show signs of strain. Jennie and George separated in 1912 and were divorced on April 1, 1914. Jennie returned to her former name, Lady Randolph Churchill and George Cornwallis-West married Stella Campbell, a noted stage actress.

Montagu Porch in later life. photo: By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64490806

Four years later, on June 1, 1918, Jennie married a third time. Her new husband was Montagu Phippen Porch. Porch, a former member of the British Army, had served with the Colonial Service since 1906 and was three years younger than Jennie’s son Winston. Porch continued to serve in the British Army until the end of World War I, devoting his time to several successful ventures in Africa. Following Jennie’s death, Porch returned to Africa for some time and remarried in 1926 to Donna Guilia Patrizi, the daughter of the Marchese Patrizi della Rocco. After being widowed again in 1938, he returned to England until he died in 1964.

Lady Randolph Churchill, c1899. source: Wikipedia

After breaking her ankle in May 1921, Jennie suffered from gangrene and had to have her lower leg amputated in June 1921. Two weeks later, on June 29, 1921, she died at her home in London as a result of a hemorrhage in her thigh. Jennie is buried in the Spencer-Churchill family plot at St. Martin’s Church, Bladon, alongside her first husband, her two sons, and their families.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth; Credit – Wikipedia

Louise Renée de Penancoet de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth and King Charles II of England are the ancestors of Queen Camilla, Diana, Princess of Wales, and Sarah, Duchess of York. Louise was born on September 5, 1649, at her family home, the Manoir de Keroual (link in French) in Brest, Brittany, France. She was the second of the three children and the eldest of the two daughters of Guillaume de Penancoët de Kérouaille, from a noble family of Brittany, (died 1690) and Marie de Ploeuc de Timeur (died 1709). The income of Louise’s family was not commensurate with their rank and they lived modestly. Louise was educated at the Convent of the Ursulines in Lesneven, Brittany, France where her aunt was one of the nuns who oversaw the education of young girls.

Louise had two siblings:

• Sébastien de Penancoët, Lord of Chefdubois (1646 – 1669), unmarried
• Henriette Mauricette de Penancoët de Kérouaille (1650 – 1728), married (1) Philip Herbert, 7th Earl of Pembroke, had one daughter (2) Jean-Timoleon Gouffier, Marquis de Thois, had nine children

Henriette-Anne, Duchess of Orléans; Credit – Wikipedia

Louise’s marriage prospects were dim as the relative poverty of her parents did not allow for a dowry. Instead, in 1669, her parents arranged for her to be placed in the household of Henriette-Anne, Duchess of Orléans, at the Palace of Versailles, hoping Louise would catch the eye of King Louis XIV of France and become a royal mistress. Henriette-Anne was born an English princess, the youngest child of the beheaded King Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria of France, the daughter of the assassinated King Henri IV of France. Henriette-Anne’s husband was Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, the only sibling of King Louis XIV of France, and her brother was King Charles II of England. King Charles II and Henriette-Anne were the first cousins of King Louis XIV and his brother Philippe.

King Louis XIV of France; Credit – Wikipedia

Louise was noticed by King Louis XIV but at that time, his official mistress was Louise de La Vallière and his unofficial favorite was Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon and he thought Louise might be more useful to him diplomatically. Henriette-Anne’s marriage was unhappy. She had an early affair with King Louis XIV and she and her husband both had affairs throughout their marriage. Louise quickly learned the customs and habits of the French court from Henriette-Anne.

In January 1670, Louise accompanied Henriette-Anne on a diplomatic mission to King Charles II at Dover Castle in England. King Louis XIV was hoping Louise would catch the eye of his cousin King Charles II and then there would be a French mistress at the English court. When the diplomatic mission was completed, Henriette-Anne offered her brother his choice of a piece of jewelry from her jewelry box which Louise handed to her. Placing his hand on Louise’s hand, Charles is reputed to have said: “This is the only jewel I want!”

King Charles II of England; Credit – Wikipedia

In June 1670, Henriette-Anne suddenly died, probably from poison. The sudden death of Henriette-Anne left Louise without a position and an arrangement for Louise in which King Charles II would “show her favor” was made by the French ambassador Charles Colbert, Marquis de Croissy aided by the English secretary of state Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington, and his wife. Louise was housed in an apartment at Whitehall Palace in London and Charles came to pay her court every evening

In October 1671, Louise was invited to Euston Hall, the home of Henry and Elisabeth Bennet, the Earl and Countess of Arlington, along with King Charles II, without his wife, and many guests. A mock wedding was held with Louise and Charles playing the bride and groom, followed by a wedding night. Thus, Louise became the mistress of King Charles II. Louise was officially named a lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Braganza, Charles II’s childless wife, and so the king could visit his wife and also see his mistress. Another mistress, Barbara Palmer, Duchess of Cleveland had been appointed Queen Catherine’s Lady of the Bedchamber but Queen Catherine despised Barbara’s insulting manner. Louise decided to flatter Queen Catherine, quickly making herself the queen’s favorite lady.

Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond and Lennox; Credit – Wikipedia

On July 29, 1672, nine months after the mock marriage, Louise gave birth to her only child:

• Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, 1st Duke of Lennox (1672 – 1723), married Anne Brudenell, had one son and two daughters

Once Louise had given Charles II a son, she set out to reap rewards. On August 9, 1675, King Charles II granted Louise the titles Duchess of Portsmouth, Countess of Fareham, and Baroness Petersfield. On the same day, King Charles II’s illegitimate son by Louise, who had been given the surname Lennox, was created Duke of Richmond, Earl of March, and Baron Settrington in the Peerage of England, and on September 9, 1675, he was created Duke of Lennox, Earl of Darnley, and Baron Methuen of Torbolten in the Peerage of Scotland. In addition, Louise received an annual pension and a suite of twenty-four rooms in Whitehall Palace, richer and grander than Queen Catherine’s chambers. More rewards came later. Louise’s son was invested as a Knight of the Garter in 1681. In 1684 at the request of King Charles II, King Louis XIV created Louise Duchesse d’Aubigny in the Peerage of France.

Louise in 1682; Credit – Wikipedia

Because of the general mistrust between England and France in the 17th century, Louise was unpopular with the English people. Instead, most of the public adored another of Charles’ mistresses, the bawdy actress Nell Gwynn. One day, Nell Gwynn was out for a carriage ride when she heard a crowd shouting at her about her supposed Catholic faith. Nell realized the crowd had mixed her up with Louise. She opened the carriage window and said, “Good people, you are mistaken. I am the Protestant whore.”

Louise de Kerouaille managed to hold on to the title of official mistress until the end of King Charles II’s life. On February 2, 1685, King Charles II suffered an apparent stroke, although modern analysis of his symptoms seems to indicate he may have died from uremia, a symptom of kidney failure. Louise assisted in measures to see that Charles II was received into the Roman Catholic Church on his deathbed. As he lay dying, Charles asked his brother, who would succeed him as King James II, to look after his mistresses: “…be well to Portsmouth, and let not poor Nelly starve,” referring to Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth and Nell Gwyn.

Château de la Verrerie in Aubigny-sur-Nère, France, where Louise lived out her life; Credit – By Dmitry Gurtovoy – Archive.org, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4846299

After Charles’ death, Louise left England with two shiploads of magnificent paintings and furniture from her apartment at Whitehall Palace given to her by King Charles II. Louise spent her last years in Aubigny-sur-Nère, France at the Château de la Verrerie, given to her in 1673 by King Louis XIV at the request of King Charles II. She returned to England twice – for a short visit during the short reign of King James II and to attend the coronation of King George I.

The generous pension that Charles II had given her was rescinded in 1688 following the Glorious Revolution that deposed King James II and placed his daughter Queen Mary II and his nephew and Mary’s husband King William III upon the throne. Until his death in 1715, King Louis XIV of France and then his nephew Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, Regent of France during the minority of King Louis XV, great-grandson of King Louis XIV and his successor, provided Louise with a pension and protected her against her creditors. Louise died in Paris, France on November 14, 1734, aged 85, and was buried at the Church of the Carmelite Convent in Paris, France.

Louise’s son had predeceased her so upon her death, her estate and French title were inherited by her grandson Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, 2nd Duke of Lennox, 2nd Duke of  Aubigny (1701-1750). The French estate, Château de la Verrerie, was retained by his descendants until 1842 when it was sold by Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond, 5th Duke of Lennox, 5th Duke of Aubigny. Much of the collection of paintings and furniture now at Goodwood House in Chichester, West Sussex, England, the seat of the Duke of Richmond and Lennox, originated in the collection of his ancestor Louise de Kérouaille.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Château De La Verrerie (Cher). [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_la_Verrerie_(Cher)> [Accessed 14 September 2020].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Louise De Kérouaille, Duchess Of Portsmouth. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_de_K%C3%A9rouaille,_Duchess_of_Portsmouth> [Accessed 14 September 2020].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2016. King Charles II Of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-charles-ii-of-england/> [Accessed 12 September 2020].
• Fr.wikipedia.org. 2020. Louise Renée De Penancoët De Keroual. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Ren%C3%A9e_de_Penanco%C3%ABt_de_Keroual> [Accessed 14 September 2020].
• Fraser, Antonia, 1979. King Charles II. London: Phoenix.