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checkoutmybookshelf · 8 months

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Lady Whistledown Returns: Chapter 6

Penelope makes a midnight run for England to speak to Anthony. Will she be able to pull off her plan?

Need to catch up? Find previous chapters and works on AO3.

This chapter does not have content warnings.

A very sunburned Penelope had been delayed in following Worth and Colin back to England by hours because she was loathe to tell Byron or the Shelleys what was going on. Worth’s letter had also recommended that she return to England quickly, as though she lacked the sense to do exactly that. She had sat, teeth gritted, through supper—excusing Colin’s absence by his persistent headache—and waited for everyone to retire to bed. Then she packed Colin’s saddlebags, left a note for Mary—inventing the excuse of a family emergency that required her and Colin’s immediate departure and requesting that their things be shipped back to England to Bridgerton House—and took her pony to ride into the nearest town and hire herself a hack to take her to a point where she could cross the channel.

She had managed to distract herself through dinner by focusing on behaving utterly above suspicion and while riding with remaining in the saddle—Colin had taught her how to ride astride at speed, but that had been meant to get her out of any potential danger they might meet on the road, and she still lacked confidence at a full gallop. These distractions had been sufficient to keep her on her feet, thinking, and moving. However, trapped in a hired hack with hours of travel ahead of her, Penelope could not escape the great, yawing hole in her chest that had torn her world asunder when she had opened the bedroom door to find Colin’s unsheathed sword on the floor and a letter addressed to her on the bed.

She wasn’t sure how long she had leaned against the closed door, trying to get up her courage to pick up that sword. It had to be sheathed; anyone coming in and finding it would lead to questions she could not answer. That there was no obvious pool of blood on the floor was all that kept Penelope on her feet; she didn’t know how she would manage if she picked up the blade and found blood on it. Eventually, she talked herself into it, and as soon as she took the first step, a curtain seemed to descend between her and the world. Her fear was still present, but felt detached, and she found that she could breathe and think. If everything felt a bit unreal and floaty, well, she could manage that better than sheer panic.

There had been no blood on the sword. She had wiped it down carefully with a handkerchief to be sure and to prevent the blade that had saved both her life and Colin’s on the road from rusting in its sheath. She had hesitated over taking it with her before she left Villa Diodati, but in addition to having exactly no idea how to use a sword, this was Colin’s sword, and he had nearly a foot of height over her and significantly more strength. The simple fact was that even had she fencing training, his sword was too big for her. And if its presence with her provoked anyone into challenging her, it would be more of an impediment than a help. She had left it hanging in the armoire. What she had taken was Colin’s overcoat, because it was warmer than her Spencer jackets and less bulky than her cloaks, while still managing to cover a similar amount of her. And it smelled like Colin.

The pre-dawn sky racing past the hackney’s windows had sufficiently lightened to allow her to read, so Penelope pulled out Worth’s letter to review.

Dame Penelope,

I write to you both on behalf of Her Royal Majesty Charlotte, Queen Consort of Great Britain and Ireland and Electress and Queen Consort of Hanover, and on my own humble behalf.

I first assure you that Mr. Bridgerton is safe and in good health; my fellow agents and I took great care as to his well-being when we collected him on behalf of the queen. Unfortunately, I am not permitted to inform you of our destination; the queen has decreed that Mr. Bridgerton’s residence shall be shrouded in utmost secrecy, on pain of grievous bodily harm to Mr. Bridgerton.

What I am permitted to tell is as follows. Mr. Bridgerton will remain a secret guest of Her Majesty to ensure that you refrain from publishing as Lady Whistledown again. Should you disregard this letter and publish, Mr. Bridgerton will pay the price. Additionally—and in case the previous paragraph was not entirely clear—you are prohibited from telling anyone about this situation. This includes through publication, correspondence, or in person. Not even the Bridgerton family is to know of this. The consequences of disobeying this edict will, again, be paid by Mr. Bridgerton.

I am sorry to say that I cannot give you any information about how and when Mr. Bridgerton may be released. You may apply privately to Her Majesty, if you wish, with no penalty to Mr. Bridgerton.

If I may take this juncture to offer some personal opinions on the matter: I do not know when Her Majesty intends to release Mr. Bridgerton, and I would recommend returning to England as quickly as possible and maintaining a low social profile to avoid any awkward questions. Remaining cloistered in your home may be best. I also reiterate my recommendation from Lord Byron’s fete: You must not publish. Until and unless you do so, Her Majesty does not dare harm Mr. Bridgerton. Should you publish again, I cannot guarantee your husband’s safety, or even his life.

I understand that both the separation and the limitation on your activities may be difficult to bear, but capitulation and submission are the most effective strategies with Her Majesty. Should you demonstrate your willingness to obey, I do not doubt that eventually the queen will see reason and return Mr. Bridgerton to you. At the risk of taking liberties, I urge you to be steadfast, Penelope. Surrender Whistledown and you will see Colin again.

Yours dutifully,

Worth

On first read, all Penelope had been able to focus on was that Colin was all right—as much as anyone who had been unceremoniously kidnapped could be—and that she had to get home without telling anyone anything. Now, however, having been given time to become accustomed to the news and with many hours before her to plan, the burn of anger made itself known in her chest as voices howled in her mind.

“Be steadfast, Penelope.”

“You must not publish, Penelope.”

“Be silent, Penelope.”

“Obey, Penelope.”

Her sisters, her Mama, Cressida Cowper, Viscount Bridgerton, the queen, all of society had said those words to her, over and over. And she had tried, from the time she was handed off to a bevy of governesses to her presentation, to burying Lady Whistledown. Silence and obedience were simply not who she was. For Worth to insist that she sit silently in the parlor of her home and wait for the queen to feel magnanimous enough to release her husband was entirely too much to ask.

And yet there was the queen’s explicit threat to Colin should she do anything. The thorny bit of the problem, according to the part of Penelope’s mind that was Whistledown, was that the queen was in the wrong and she clearly knew that—she had contrived a pyrrhic situation in which she, Penelope, and Colin would all burn if Penelope chose not to play by the rules she had set. And yet there was simply no endgame otherwise. This was Colin, he could not be left as a hostage again Penelope’s good behavior. He was too social, too entwined in his family to manage isolation well, and were Penelope to be honest, she missed him dearly already. She would not—could not—play this game and win.

So distracted in her thoughts was Penelope that she nearly broke her nose on the opposite wall of the coach as it abruptly halted. Jolted back to reality, she could hear waves and smell saltwater. Making sure that her hair was tucked securely away beneath a scarf and that her hat was pulled low to conceal her hair and as much of her face as feasible, Penelope exited the carriage and made for the shipping office to book herself passage across the Channel.

Standing in the prow of the ship, face to the wind and the rising sun, Penelope could feel the ghost of Colin’s hands about her waist. Breathing deeply, Pen closed her eyes, remembering. Colin’s grin when he was feeling wicked, the press of his lips on hers, the safe warmth of being held in his arms, and the strength she found standing next to him, hand-in-hand, as they faced the world together. She tried to think through the conversation she wanted to have with him. The decision she was loathe to make alone, but she had little choice. She did not know if he would agree with her choice. That uncertainty cut her nearly as deeply as her certainty that it was the only choice she could possibly make.

The remaining hours of her crossing, still standing in the prow of the ship, were not enough for Penelope to talk herself out of her newly formed plan. She did try, but as she descended the gangway and hired herself another hack—and as she changed hacks several times, to avoid prying eyes—she found herself resolute. The resolution stayed with her as she bulled past Varley into the hall of her mother’s house, as she crept out the back kitchen door, as she crossed the square to Bridgerton House, and as she used a key she wasn’t sure Eloise knew she still had to slip in a side door. Her resolve began to waver as she padded quietly through the halls and stopped before Anthony’s study door.

The hand Penelope lifted to knock hung suspended in the air for long moments. She was reluctant to break the spell of silence in the hallway, and she was disinclined to potentially draw attention to herself. She also did not want anyone else who might be in the study to know that she was in the house. She did not intend to stay, and the fewer people who knew she had been here, the better.

And standing before the door like a ninny with your hand in the air is certainly not going to help, she scolded herself. Dropping her hand, Penelope listened. She heard no voices in the room, just the sound of liquid splashing into a crystal glass. Another ten or fifteen seconds of listening to papers shuffle, and Penelope rolled her shoulders back before slipping into the room and pulling the door softly shut behind her.

Anthony jerked to his feet behind his desk as the door opened, eyes snapping in fury. When Penelope pulled off her hat and scarf, his jaw physically dropped. The cool, analytical part of Penelope’s brain whispered, I don’t believe I have ever seen that happen outside an Austen novel. She remained quiet and still as Anthony’s eyes took in Colin’s coat wrapped around her, her general rumpled air, and whatever her countenance was doing—she truly was uncertain.

“What in God’s name has happened?” asked Anthony.

It took an almost shamefully short time for Penelope to explain the situation. Anthony began standing bolt upright behind his desk, but quickly shifted to settle his fists on the desk surface and lean forward before nearly falling back into his chair. The parts of Penelope’s mind not focused on keeping her upright and speaking slowly and clearly noted that not once did Anthony reach for the crystal decanter or still-full glass on his desk. That was bad; Anthony tended to reach for his drink the way a small child reached for a blanket or soft toy. The impulse was to comfort oneself, to ensure that one could handle what was to come. Penelope had seen him simply pour a glass and hold it during particularly intense family meetings. Benedict would invariably throw a glass back, but if Anthony needed to be Viscount Bridgerton, he rarely took more than an initial polite sip. That he had failed to even reach for it as she spoke meant that they were in uncharted, treacherous waters.

When Anthony held out a hand, Penelope put Worth’s letter into it and then turned to face the small fire in the study as he read. This would be her last moment to make a different choice, to change the path she was about to put herself, Colin, and the Bridgerton family on. Did she want to? Was she still sure that Colin would stand behind her choice?

Nausea rose in Penelope’s throat, and she leaned forward, head resting against her forearm, which was in turn resting awkwardly below the lip of the mantelpiece—which was designed for people several inches taller than she. The lower edge dug uncomfortably into her scalp as she breathed deeply, trying to calm her roiling stomach and slow her racing heart. She felt cold, despite the perspiration she could feel on her forehead from the heat of the flames.

Anthony’s hands were gentle on her shoulders as he pulled her away from the fire, turned her around, and gently pushed her down into one of a pair of comfortable armchairs. She looked up and met his eyes, mostly to distract herself from wishing that the hands on her shoulders were Colin’s. They were not, and if she did not act, they may never be again.

“It will be all right, Penelope,” said Anthony, in a tone that Pen was sure was meant to be reassuring but somehow came out vaguely accusatory. “You did the right thing by coming to me. I shall take care of everything. You must—”

“No,” interrupted Penelope. “No, Anthony. I am not here to ask your help or your blessing. I must put out a special edition of Whistledown telling the world what the queen has done.”

Anthony turned purple. His jaw worked for long moments before he turned on his heel and walked away from her. Face dropped into her hands, Penelope listened. Anthony’s footsteps were erratic, faster then slower, then faster again. Decanter and glass clinked together, then both were slammed onto the desktop. The window opened, and a breeze ruffled Penelope’s hair for a long moment until the crash of sash hitting sill echoed. Books thumped on shelves. There was the distinctive snap of a breaking quill.

For her part, Penelope suddenly felt lighter. Her nausea evaporated, and she felt really, truly calm for the first time since walking into her room at Villa Diodati. The pain and deep sadness of knowing the consequences for Colin of her decision sharpened into a stake through her heart, but it wasn’t the sort of stake that said she was making the wrong decision. Sitting in limbo forever, never knowing if or when she would see Colin again, dying slowly by inches, and agonizing over every possible decision and action to prevent a capricious, petty, and terrified autocrat from harming her husband would have been unlivable. Eventually, Penelope would have had to break the stalemate, and losing time in the stalemate meant a longer captivity for Colin. Better to simply force the queen’s hand now.

The heat of the fire on the backs of her hands cut off suddenly. “We haven’t any other choice, Anthony. The queen’s position of power rests entirely on her actions remaining secret. The House of Lords will never stand for her actions; she will have no choice but to release Colin. The ton may riot when they hear of this.” Lowering her hands, Penelope started. Anthony’s still immensely purple, furious face was bare inches from her own. His hands were on the arms of the chair, and she heard it creak as he leaned more of his weight on his hands and arms.

“Were you anything other than a gently bred lady,” Anthony hissed through clenched teeth, “I would challenge you to a duel here and now.” He shoved himself back from the chair so violently that it tipped back on its rear legs for a long moment, sending Penelope’s heart into her mouth. As the chair rocked forward, she stood, watching Anthony pace the room. Waiting.

“Do you love Colin at all, or is it simply that he is so besotted with you that he is easy to manipulate, and you married him so you could continue to publish as Whistledown?” Anthony managed not to yell—he had no more wish to attract the attention of the household than Penelope did—but his tone was vicious, and his words cut deep.

“Of course I love him,” she exclaimed.

“Ah, you love him so much you are content to doom him to torture. How silly of me to mistake your affection!”

“You cannot imagine she wouldn’t find any excuse to do it anyway if we do nothing!”

“You cannot know that! All we do know is that if you give the queen a reason to hurt Colin, she has said explicitly that she will. It is our duty to keep that from occurring.”

“Anthony…” Penelope’s voice trailed away. She walked to his desk and poured herself a small glass of scotch from his decanter. Catching sight of a copy of An Englishman in Italy on the desk with a bookmark about a third of the way through caused a lump to spring up in Penelope’s throat. Swallowing hard and taking both glasses in her hands, Penelope handed a poleaxed Anthony his glass, clinked hers against his, and took a sip. Anthony followed suit automatically.

“We cannot stop the queen hurting Colin,” she said, striving for a matter-of-fact tone. “Either she will find an excuse to carry out her threat or holding him captive will slowly eat away his spirit. Can you imagine Colin if he cannot go traveling?” The spike in her heart wormed its way a few inches deeper as Anthony’s face twisted at the thought of Colin so restrained. The pained twist of Anthony’s face turned to anger again quickly, however.

“At least in those cases we are not actively taking part in the harm,” Anthony said. “I would wait for Kate forever if it kept her safe and unharmed.”

“The queen can always choose not to go through with her threat, and doing nothing is simply a choice to expose him to a different kind of harm. There is no good choice here, Anthony. I have no tools at my disposal without blood on them. The absolute best I can do is not draw this out indefinitely. I shall go home now, and write.” She set her glass down on the desk again, and tucked her hair up into her hat; the scarf went in the pocket of Colin’s coat.

“If you walk out that door now, Penelope, you will never be welcome under this roof again.” Anthony hadn’t moved, but Penelope had never heard him sound so deadly serious. “I cannot stop you from publishing if you insist upon it; I’m sure you knew what kind of power the queen’s conditions gave you before you ever walked through this door. But know this: If so much as a single hair on Colin’s head is harmed, I shall hold you personally responsible. You will be banned from Bridgerton House and Aubrey Hall. I shall see to it that you never see your nephews. You shall have no correspondence with Eloise, Francesca, or Hyacinth, and if I could prevent you corresponding with Daphne, I would do so. Neither you personally nor any member of the Featherington family shall have my support in any form. What say you?”

“I’m not the one hurting Colin, Anthony.” Without waiting for a response, Penelope pivoted on her heel and walked out the door. She waited for a long moment, listening. The sound of a crystal glass shattering against the wall and full-chested sobs haunted her steps as she made her way back to her and Colin’s Mayfair house. The sun was rising again as she slipped inside the back door.

Her steps echoed. The furniture was covered in sheets to prevent the dust, and the house was truly empty because they had given their household a vacation while they were abroad. The housekeeper would check the house over every few days to ensure nothing untoward happened, but the rest of the staff had been released to their families. She hadn’t sent word ahead that she would be returning. And yet, when she saw the uncovered front hall table with its polished salver uncovered and holding a letter addressed “Dame Penelope” in Worth’s now-familiar hand, she was entirely unsurprised. She was simply exhausted beyond words.

She opened the letter, and was perversely grateful to see that it was only a few short lines telling her that he had personally been following her since she crossed the Channel, but that he was not reporting that she was back because his belief was that she was following his advice. He reiterated that Colin was well as of the writing of his letter and reminded her not to publish. She used the letter to light the stove to make herself a cup of tea to avoid having to go upstairs to an empty bedroom. Ultimately, she fell asleep on the settee in Colin’s study, his coat still wrapped around her.

In lieu of trying to comb out her hopelessly tangled curls when she woke up, Penelope opened her travel writing desk and wrote her special issue of Whistledown. It didn’t take long; this was less a scandal report than it was an excoriation and cry for rule of law. She then dressed in the plainest gown she had, threw an apron and short cloak over the whole thing—listening to her stomach growl all the while—and at the last moment remembered to pin her lace cap over her hair. Striding out into the afternoon sunlight, Penelope made for her original printer’s shop.

Rounding the corner, the crowd abruptly thinned, revealing something of a wasteland where she was accustomed to seeing bustling crowds. The print shop itself was ominously dark, and there may have been boards inside the window. Penelope tried the door and found it very firmly locked. A surreptitious jiggle of the door and careful peering through the windows confirmed that the door and window had been boarded over from the inside. She could also see an explosion of paper, moveable type blocks all over the floor, and the handle of the press itself sat at a hideously incorrect angle.

There was no notice on the door, no obvious explanation for what had happened. Penelope’s breath came hard; she had to be able to print and distribute this issue of Whistledown. She truly had no recourse if she could not get this done. Catching herself leaning against the door nearly in tears, Penelope forced herself to take a slow, deep breath. She had run her operation alone for years. She could problem solve this, and she knew all the printers in this part of London; it would be simple enough to try another. Just a street over was a printer who had done excellent work for her in the past.

I will be calm, and I will do this, she told herself. If she ran more than walked the distance, she simply looked like a maid on a mission for a persnickety mistress. Or so she told herself.

The next printer’s shop was blessedly open. The door itself was propped open to catch errant breezes, and the print master was overseeing a print run—his journeymen were setting type and the apprentices were doing the heavy lifting of pressing and hanging pressed pages to dry. The broadly built print master had done enough business with Penelope in this guise to recognize her.

“Your mistress is writing again, eh lass?” he asked, long years in England nearly but not quite hiding the brogue of his childhood in Scotland.

“You might say so, sure enough,” she said, imitating her cousins in Ireland out of sheer habit. Pulling the closely written sheets of paper from her pocket, Penelope said, “My mistress needs this for noon tomorrow, and she’s willing to take a smaller cut than usual for your prompt work.”

“That’s mighty generous of her,” he said. “I’ll just be needing to see the writ of crown approval and then we can get underway.”

“Writ of crown approval?”

“Surely your mistress has heard that the crown is enforcing an old law now. Old Abernathy was ruined when he published a pamphlet on dog breeding without a writ of approval last week.”

Penelope’s heart jittered. That explained what had happened to her first printer. She would have to see what she and Colin could do for the poor man once Colin was free. But first she had to get this printed. “My mistress and I have been on the continent, we only just returned,” she began, but petered off as the print master frowned and shook his head.

“Then you shall have to convey my apologies to your mistress. I shan’t risk a thousand-pound fine and worse for publishing without a writ of approval.”

“I’m sure my mistress would be willing to cover the fee.”

“The fee perhaps, but we should never be considered for crown publishing projects again, lass. And your mistress surely cannot pay for that loss of income. You have my apologies, and my promise that your mistress shall be at the front of the queue as soon as you have a writ of approval. That’s the best I can do, lass. Now be along, we have work to do.”

Penelope retreated. The print master was correct, she could not cover the loss of crown commissions, and that was clearly a more powerful consideration than the quick payday that a Whistledown issue would bring. And while she absolutely would pay the fine, if a printer were willing to print anyway, it would not be an insignificant sum from their coffers. Heart pounding, mouth dry, and feeling increasingly frantic, Penelope elbowed her way through the crowded streets from print shop to print shop with increasing aggression.

At each and every shop, she received the same answer. Nobody, not even the least reputable printers she could find in parts of London that terrified her to walk through alone, would print without a writ of crown approval. Whatever spectacle the queen’s men had put on at Abernathy’s shop had apparently terrified the rest of the printers into compliance. She endured leers, grabbing hands, rudeness, anger, dismissal, and ridicule, and still she failed. When the last print shop she had been directed to slammed its doors in her face, Penelope nearly dissolved then and there. She could not give up, but she had no sense of what to do next. The sounds of a raucous, certainly drunk group of men startled her, and she picked up her skirts and ran.

#polin #bridgerton #the polin fic #polin fic #polin fanfic #polin fanfiction #colin bridgerton #colin x penelope #colin bridgerton and penelope feathertington #penelope bridgerton #penelope featherington

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acrossthewavesoftime · 2 years

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Happy Birthday to...

Sophie von der Pfalz, Electress of Hannover, and James VII and II, born on 14 October 1630 and 1633 respectively.

James and Sophie remained in lifelong contact, and the exiled James considered her one of his few allies.

...Little did he know that Sophie was close with both William and Mary, growing particularly fond of the latter in an almost maternal capacity.

Sophie- the woman who would almost have been Queen of England twice

Originally a candidate for marrying James' brother, the recently restored Charles II, the latter settled for Catherine of Braganza instead.

Rather than as consort, Sophie later would almost have become Queen in her own right when the Act of Settlement, implemented by William III, named her as heir presumptive to the crown.

When Sophie visited The Hague with her little niece Liselotte in the winter of 1659/1660, little did she know that one day, the nine-year-old William of Nassau who romped through the Binnenhof palace with her niece would become King of England, and declare her the heir presumptive to the throne. At the time, Sophie was heavily pregnant with her son Georg Ludwig, the future George I who became King of Great Britain when Queen Anne died in 1714. Sophie, alas, had predeceased the much younger Anne by a mere handful of weeks.

Sophie on her own birthday:

In 1680, the year she turned fifty, Sophie decided to write her own memoirs, including a description of her birth and early years. Here is what she had to say on the circumstances of her birth:

Sophie, Electress of Hannover and Köcher, Adolf [Ed]: Memoiren der Herzogin Sophie nachmals Kurfürstin von Hannover, Leipzig 1879, p. 33.

They told me that I was born in the year 1630 on the 14th of October, and since I was the 12th fruit of the marriage of the King my father and the Queen my mother, I think that my birth did not cause them any other joy than that of my no longer occupying the place I previously did. They were even at a loss which name and which godparents one should give me, as all the kings and princes to be considered had already taken this trouble for the children who had preceded me. It had pleased them to put various names on slips of paper and to draw from them the name I was to receive, and chance gave me that of Sophie; and to choose godmothers for me who had that name, the King picked the Princess Palatine of Birkenfeld, Countess of Hohenlohe, the Countess of Cuylenburg and Madame de Brederode, Countess of Nassau, and as godfathers the states of Frisia.

Happy birthday, Sophie von Hannover! She may have been the 12th child of her parents, but she left us first-rate sources in the shape of her memoirs and parts of her correspondence, providing a window into 17th century life and politics.

#sophie von hannover #james ii #17th century #history #on this day #otd #the stuarts #house of stuart #stuartposting

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alternatehistoryworlds · 16 days

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A happier life for Henry VIII's children: Part 3.

Edward was the son of King Henry VIII of England and his third wife Jane Seymour. The birth of a healthy boy was a great miracle and joy not only for his father, but for the whole of England. Edward's childhood was happy, because he had his own mother with him, who with her gentle voice could calm and support him. But it did not last long, in 1547 the boy had to grow up sharply and take on his children's shoulders the responsibility for the whole country, because his father Henry VIII died. His older sister Mary, Queen of France, became regent until the little king came of age. Mary ruled in her brother's place for 8 years. In addition, Mary and Jane did not allow the latter's brothers to influence the young king. Edward and Thomas Seymour were angry about this and they even tried to remove Mary from power, but they failed. The Queen of France uncovered the plot and sent them both to the Tower for life. In 1557 Mary's regency ended and she returned to France, and Edward became the rightful ruler of his state. Two years earlier the king had become interested in Protestantism, and secretly from his mother and sister he began to study it. At a council, he told his lords that he wished all England to convert to this religion, and most of his advisors supported his idea. The Queen Dowager of England tried several times to dissuade her son, but he became angry and made it clear that he would not allow her to interfere in his affairs of state. Queen Mary of France also did not lag behind and tried to return her brother to Catholicism and her attempts were not successful. But there were also those who disagreed, and because of this there were riots and rebellions in the country, the rioters demanded that the king left his venture and returned to the true faith. However, the king was not deterred by their demands, Edward managed to quell the rebellions and to appease his subjects, he declared in public that he would be tolerant and let them believe what they wanted. And to reconcile Catholics and Protestants, Edward promised to marry a Catholic princess, but their children would be Protestants, and to marry his other older sister Elizabeth to a Protestant. In 1558, the princess married the eldest son of the King of Sweden and left England for good. The king himself married Mary Stuart a year later. The marriage between the King of England and the Scottish Queen was a very successful and cohesive one. Mary appointed her consort as her companion and they lived on two countries.

Jane of England(1560 - 1618). Duchess of Angoulême. In 1578 she married her cousin Charles. Their married life was not a happy one. After the birth of their last child, the couple finally drifted apart and stopped living together. Four children were born in the marriage.

Henry IX of England(1561 - 1611). King of England, Ireland and Scotland. In 1589 he became King of England, and in 1600 of Scotland. In 1605 he proclaimed himself king of Great Britain. He was married, but did not love his wife, during their marriage he never touched her. Also the king had a mistress who bore him 5 children out of wedlock: Mary, Edward, Elizabeth, Grace and James. Died at the age of 51 of bubonic plague.

James I of England(1563 - 1627). King of Great Britain. Inherited from his older brother, as the latter had no legitimate children. Also, unlike Henry, he loved his wife and never cheated on her. Husband of Elizabeth of Denmark, father of 11 children: Edward VII, Sophia, Charles, George, Isabella, Joan, Frederick, Barbara, Henrietta, Arabella and Robert.

Mary of England(1564 - 1590). Mary was given in marriage to her cousin at the age of 18. The marriage produced 4 children. In 1590, Mary contracted pneumonia and died on the anniversary of her father's death.

Elizabeth of England(1567 - 1570). In 1570, the princess caught cold, contracted pneumonia and died at the age of 3.

Margaret of England(1569 - 1624). She was married twice, but both her husbands died shortly after the marriage. After the death of her second husband, Margaret declared that she would never marry again. She founded a charitable foundation and helped anyone in need, she especially focused on helping women and children.

Edward of England(1572 - 1586). Duke of Somerset and Albany. From birth had poor health. Died at the age of 14 from smallpox.

Richard of England(1575 - 1655). Duke of Somerset and Albany. After the death of his brother in 1586 all his titles passed to him. The Prince was noted for his good health and poetic ability. During his lifetime he became a famous poet. In 1600 he married Elizabeth Howard, after the wedding Richard and Elizabeth removed from the court and began to live a happy and quiet family life. The marriage produced 7 children: Mary, William, Edward, Philip, Anne, Catherine, and Nicholas.

Jane Seymour loved her daughter-in-law as her own daughter, the dowager queen liked to spend time in the circle of her grandchildren. On her son, she had almost no influence, but the king loved his mother and because of respect sometimes listened to her advice. Jane died in 1565, and Edward was greatly grieved by her death. Mary, more than anyone else, understood how her brother felt and despite their differences on matters of religion, came to England to give him moral support. In the end, they finally reconciled. Edward VI was a king beloved by the nobility and the people. For most of his reign, he tried to try on Catholics and Protestants and prevent religious warfare within the country. On top of that, the king gave shelter and protection to Protestants who had fled religious persecution. Edward VI died of tuberculosis in 1589. He was buried in Westminster Abbey next to his parents and other family members. Eleven years later, his wife Mary Stuart was buried next to him.

#english history #history #royal family #royalty #history au #au #royal #henryviii #the tudors #16th century #british royal family #edwardvi #marytudor #mary stuart #anne boleyn #catherine of aragon #elizabethi #elizabeth tudor #jane seymour

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zvaigzdelasas · 2 years

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The Koh-i-noor, Persian for Mountain of Light, is [not] the biggest diamond in the world[...], but it is arguably the most infamous. For many in India it has always represented the humiliation of colonisation.[...]

The ruling BJP party of Narendra Modi has let it be known that any plans for the Queen Consort to wear the Koh-i-noor at her coronation would bring back “painful memories of the colonial past”. For a country that is involved in top level trade negotiations with Britain at this very moment, this is a powerful statement, and one which the palace will now have to deal with. Does it refashion a new Queen Consort’s crown for Camilla, which would be costly at a time of financial hardship in the country? Can it swap out the diamond for another gem in the collection? [...]

The diamond’s past is something of a blood streak through history. Over the centuries, it has passed through Moghul, Persian and Afghan hands, with gore in every chapter of the story.[...]

In this rather blood-drenched relay race, Britain picks up the baton in 1849. At that time the Koh-i-noor belonged to Maharajah Duleep Singh, a 10-year-old boy-king who reigned over the north of India from his capital in Lahore. The East India Company forcibly separated him from his mother, imprisoned her, and then made him sign a treaty he was ill-equipped to understand, supposedly for his own protection. Duleep’s childish signature on vellum lost him the Koh-I-noor and his kingdom. He would eventually die, broken and broke, on the floor of a Parisian hotel at the age of 55. His story, for many, is an allegory of colonisation. In England, the diamond was somewhat disastrously recut, losing almost half its heft, and though Queen Victoria wore it, no other reigning monarch has[...]

In 1947 the government of a newly independent India asked for the diamond’s return. In 1976, as Britain sweltered in a heatwave, Benazir Bhutto’s father, the then prime minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, asked for the diamond’s return, reasoning that it was part of Lahore’s heritage. In a blistering letter he said its return would “be symbolic of a new international equity strikingly different from the grasping, usurping temper of a former age”. Such requests, and others like it, have been assiduously sidestepped, with the reply that its history is so complicated, Britain would not know to which country it belonged.

14 Oct 22

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byneddiedingo · 3 months

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Maggie Smith and Michael Palin in A Private Function (Malcolm Mowbray, 1984)

Cast: Michael Palin, Maggie Smith, Denholm Elliott, Richard Griffiths, Tony Haygarth, John Northington, Bill Paterson, Liz Smith, Alison Steadman, Jim Carter, Pete Postlethwaite. Screenplay: Alan Bennett, Malcolm Mowbray. Cinematography: Tony Pierce-Roberts. Production design: Stuart Walker. Film editing: Barrie Vince. Music: John Du Prez.

A Private Function begins with Joyce Chilvers (Maggie Smith) and her mother (Liz Smith) entering a darkened movie theater where a newsreel is playing. We watch the newsreel, about meat rationing in postwar Britain, as the two women make their way to their seats, with Joyce scolding her mum for not finding a seat of her own. Then the lights come up and the theater organ rises from the pit. Joyce is playing the organ with her mother awkwardly sharing the bench with her. It's a nifty way to introduce not only two of the movie's key characters but also the era in which the film is set and the core of the plot. The newsreel also includes footage of the preparations for the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Sir Philip Mountbatten, so we know that we're in November of 1947. The setting is a town in Northern England where the local dignitaries, led by the irascible, snobbish Dr. Swaby (Denholm Elliott, are preparing for a private function, a banquet, to celebrate the marriage of the future queen and prince consort. But how do you put on a banquet when everything, especially meat, is strictly rationed, and a diligent civil servant named Wormold (Bill Paterson) is enforcing the consumption laws with an iron hand? The banquet planners have found a way: They're raising an illegal pig. Eventually, Joyce and her meek chiropodist husband, Gilbert (Michael Palin), will get involved, especially after the would-be social climbing Joyce is not only frustrated by her inability to get around the rationing laws, but is also piqued by not being invited to the banquet. The only solution, it seems, is for Gilbert to commit pignapping and to hide the purloined swine in their home. The rest is farce in the manner of the British comedies made in the late 1940s and early 1950s, e.g., Kind Hearts and Coronets (Robert Hamer, 1949), The Lavender Hill Mob (Charles Crichton, 1951), and The Ladykillers (Alexander Mackendrick, 1955). It's raunchier and a good deal more scatalogical than those classic films, and it's sometimes edited a little choppily -- there are jump cuts where none are needed -- but it earns the comparison on the strength of fine comic performances by Maggie Smith, Palin, Elliott, and especially Liz Smith as the endearingly dotty Mother. ("She's 74," Joyce often interjects to excuse, explain, and even praise her parent's behavior.)

#A Private Function #Malcolm Mowbray #Maggie Smith #Michael Palin

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grandmaster-anne · 1 year

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Court Circular | 7th March 2023

Buckingham Palace

The King and The Queen Consort today visited Colchester to mark its recently awarded city status and were received this morning at Colchester Castle Museum, Castle Park, by His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Essex (Mrs Jennifer Tolhurst), the Museums Manager, Colchester City Council (Mrs Philippa Pickles) and the Mayor of Colchester (Councillor Tim Young). His Majesty, escorted by the Lord-Lieutenant, and Her Majesty, escorted by the Mayor, toured the Museum, viewing artefacts and displays, and meeting members of staff, volunteers and representatives from Colchester Garrison, community groups, local businesses, conservation projects and arts organisations. The King and The Queen Consort this afternoon visited Colchester Library, Trinity Square, Colchester, and were received by Rear Admiral Roy Clare (Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Essex). Their Majesties met beneficiaries, volunteers and members of staff from Age UK and the Silver Line at an Afternoon Tea, and subsequently were briefed about the Library’s impact in the community through the Essex Year of Reading. The Prince of Wales, on behalf of The King, held an Investiture at Windsor Castle this morning.

Kensington Palace

The Princess of Wales, Joint Patron, the Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales, this morning held an Early Years Meeting.

St James’s Palace

The Earl of Wessex this morning visited the City of London Academy Shoreditch Park, 40 Hyde Road, London N1. His Royal Highness, Patron, the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, this evening attended the “Make A Splash” Gala Dinner at the Londoner, 38 Leicester Square, London WC2. The Countess of Wessex, Patron, Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa Research Association, this afternoon attended a Lunch at the Landmark Hotel, 222 Marylebone Road, London NW1. Her Royal Highness, Patron, Vision Foundation, later held a Meeting.

St James’s Palace

The Princess Royal, accompanied by Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, this afternoon attended the Grand Military Meeting at Sandown Racecourse, Portsmouth Road, Esher, and was received by His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Surrey (Mr Michael MoreMolyneux).

St James’s Palace

The Duke of Kent, Grand Master, United Grand Lodge of England, this evening attended the Board of Grand Stewards Dinner at Brooks’s, St James’s Street, London SW1.

#court circular #princess anne #princess royal #tim laurence #king charles iii #queen camilla #prince of wales #earl of wessex #countess of wessex #duke of kent #british royal family

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just-history-things · 2 years

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Consorts of England and Britain

House of York

#consorts of england and britain #elizabeth woodville #anne neville

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lazuli-writes · 10 months

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Outtakes - Character profile: Ron

summary: A Character Profile of Ronald Bilius Greengrass née Weasley

pairing: none

genre: info post

estimated word count: 1200 words

a/n: Remember folks, copying other people’s works is plagiarism and that’s illegal. Don’t be that kind of person. Anyways, hope you all enjoy it :)

©little-lazuli. Do not copy, repost, or translate without permission

Biographical Information

Name: Ronald Bilius Greengrass née Weasley

Born: 1st of March, 1980 - Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon, England, Great Britain

Blood Status: Pure-blood

Marital Status: Married

Nationality: English

Also Known As:

Ron (by family & friends)

Ickle Ronniekins ( by Fred & George Weasley)

Weasel (by Draco Malfoy)

Death Eater to be (by Fred Weasley)

Snakey (by Fred, George and Ginevra Weasley)

Sir Ron (by the Greengrass House elves)

Grass Slag (by Draco Malfoy)

Lord Blood Traitor (by Astoria Greengrass & Muriel Prewett)

Adrian Dane

Titles:

National Chess Champion

International Chess Champion

Prefect of Slytherin House

Lord Consort of Greengrass

Professor of Potions

Physical Information

Species: Human

Gender: Male

Height: 6’4”

Weight: 157 lbs

Hair Color: Red

Eye Color: One blue, One silver

Skin Color: Pale

Relationship Information

Family Members:

Arthur Weasley (father)

Molly Weasley (née Prewett) (mother)

William Weasley (older brother)

Charles Weasley (older brother)

Percy Weasley (older brother)

Fred Weasley (older brother)

George Weasley (older brother)

Ginevra Weasley (younger sister)

Daphne Greengrass (wife)

Astoria II Greengrass (daughter)

Nico Greengrass (son)

Bartholomew Greengrass (father-in-law) †

Gianna Greengrass (née Vulci) (mother-in-law) †

Astoria Greengrass (sister-in-law) †

Theodore Nott (cousin-in-law) †

Fleur Weasley (née Delacour) (sister-in-law)

Audrey Weasley (née Honywood) (sister-in-law)

Hermione Granger (sister-in-law)

Angelina Johnson (sister-in-law)

Harry Potter (brother-in-law)

Victoire Weasley (niece)

Dominique Weasley (niece)

Louis Weasley (nephew)

Molly Weasley (niece)

Lucy Weasley (niece)

Garret Weasley (nephew)

Hugo Weasley (nephew)

Felicity Weasley (niece)

Roxanne Weasley (niece)

James Potter (nephew)

Albus Potter (nephew)

Lily Potter (niece)

Septimus Weasley (paternal grandfather) †

Cedrella Weasley (née Black) (paternal grandmother) †

Bilius Weasley (paternal uncle) †

Sixtus Prewett (maternal grandfather) †

Vesta Prewett (née Selwyn) (maternal grandmother) †

Fabian Prewett (maternal uncle) †

Gideon Prewett (maternal uncle) †

Muriel Prewett (maternal great-great aunt) †

Mafalda Prewett (maternal second cousin)

Ignatius Prewett (maternal great uncle) †

Lucretia Prewett (née black) (maternal great aunt)

Weasley Family (paternal family)

Prewett Family (maternal family)

Greengrass Family

House of Black (paternal relatives)

House of Yaxley (paternal ancestors)

Flint Family (paternal ancestors)

House of Selwyn (maternal ancestors)

Romances:

Daphne Greengrass (wife)

Magical Information

Boggart: Arthur Weasley threatening to hurt him

Wand:

12”, Ash, unicorn tail hair (formerly, burnt out)

13 ⅓”, Fir, white river monster spine (current)

11”, Dogwood, Dragon heartstring (formerly owned by Rodolphus Lestrange) (backup wand)

Patronus: Bat

Affiliation

Occupation:

Hogwarts Chess Club Mentor (1998-Present)

Substitute Professor of Potions at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (2005-2006)

Proprietor of Greengrass Realtor Estates (1998-Present)

House: Slytherin

Loyalty:

Weasley Family

Prewett Family

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Slytherin House

Hogwarts Chess Club

Death Eaters (Coerced, Defected)

Order of the Phoenix (secretly)

Greengrass Family

“I have never given anyone a reason to question my morals, my loyalty or my love for my family. Yet, I am continually crucified for simply existing. Every gift an insult, every praise an offense. I am unable to share my love for a family that has no need for it. That’s why I took her name. As said before… I’m no true Weasley. How can I gift a name that I was named unworthy of bearing?”

-Ron’s reasoning for taking his wife’s name.

Ronald Bilius “Ron” Greengrass (née Weasley) (b. 1 March 1980), is a English pure-blood wizard, the sixth and youngest son of Arthur and Molly Weasley (née Prewett). He is the younger brother of William, Charles, Percy, Fred and George, and the elder brother of Ginny. Along with his siblings, he was raised at the Burrow, on the outskirts of Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon.

Ron began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1991 and was sorted into Slytherin House, the first in centuries for both of his parents’ respective families. This resulted in a protracted deterioration of his relationship with his immediate family. He quickly became friends with Tracey Davis, the duo bonding over being the outcasts of their year. Later, the two would befriend cousins Daphne Greengrass and Theodore Nott. Together, the quartet would traverse many adventures together.

After being coerced into taking the Dark Mark, Ron found himself at the forefront of numerous battles and skirmishes in the Second Wizarding War. Some battles included the Attack on Greengrass Manor (1996), Attack on the Bones Family Home (1996), Skirmish at Owler Tor (1997) and the Battle of the Seven Potters (1997). Ron was named prefect in his fifth year at Hogwarts, alongside then girlfriend Daphne Greengrass.

He skipped his last two years of school to go on the run after being disowned by his family for having the dark mark. He would eventually seek refuge with his great-great aunt Muriel Prewett, who to prove his loyalty to his family, amputated his own arm that had the dark mark. Later, Emmeline Vance—who was rescued by Ron at the Skirmish at Owler Tor—inducted Ron alongside the Greengrass sisters, Muriel Prewett, Percy Weasley, Audrey Honywood, Amelia Bones, Tracey Davis and Theodore Nott into the Order of the Phoenix as secret members.

After they both turned 18 years of age, Ron and Daphne got married on 20 March 1998, in hopes that they could share their love completely should they not survive the war. The wedding was a small affair located at the Prewett Family Home, officiated by his brother Percy and attended by the hidden members of the order. Due to Ron’s thoughts on his disownment, he took Daphne’s name, becoming Ronald Greengrass.

Operating as secret order members, Ron, Daphne, Tracey and Theodore helped escort numerous muggleborn families, squibs and other persecuted folk to seek refuge in magical and non-magical France. He alongside with the order fought in the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998, during which he lost relatives and friends including Astoria Greengrass, Tabby the House Elf, Theodore Nott, Tracey Davis and Emmeline Vance. With Astoria’s death devastating Ron immensely.

For a period of time, Ron was believed to be dead by the public and his family—due to his unknown escape of a blasting curse that Bellatrix Lestrange shot at him—until he was revealed to be alive by Molly Weasley’s Charmed Clock that indicated that he had been moved to St. Mungo’s Hospital to recuperate from his injuries sustained at the Battle of Hogwarts.

After the war, Ron remained in St. Mungo’s for almost three months to recover. He had lost an eye, and had chunks of his left leg that were blasted away from his duel with Bellatrix. Ron reconciled with his family during his time in recovery and was welcomed back into the family. Following his release from St. Mungo’s, he was soon arrested by aurors for being a suspected Death Eater and was sent to Azkaban pending his trial. He was later released after his trial revealed him innocent—thanks to witness accounts by Amelia Bones and memories from Daphne and Percy.

Due to Muriel’s death, in her will, Ron was named the Prewett heir and the legal guardian of his second cousin Mafalda Prewett, whilst she stayed in Britain—Something Ron had come to enjoy. Ron would eventually move into the Prewett Family home with Daphne. He would later take his old Chess mentor’s place as the Mentor and Sponsor of the Hogwarts Chess Club. He would later join his wife in maintaining her family’s Real Estate business. He would also serve a year working as a temporary Professor of Potions at Hogwarts. He and Daphne would later have two children named Astoria II and Nico Greengrass. He was also named the Godfather to his nephew Garett Weasley, his brother’s Fred Weasley’s and Hermione Granger’s eldest child.

#lazuli writes #fanfic info post #ron weasley fanfic #slytherin ron weasley #ron weasley fanfiction #ronald weasley fanfiction #ronald weasley #ronald weasley fanfic #ron weasley #hp fanfiction #hp fanfic

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pastedpast · 1 year

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As I'm currently indexing this blog or, rather, meta-tagging posts in my new version of it on the Blogger website (I will post proper link as soon as it's finished), I decided to compile a list of all the women who feature (or receive a mention however fleetingly) within it. I have tried to trawl the blog ''with a fine toothcomb'', but I'm bound to have missed a few names - oh well! Here is the list as complete as I can muster. The women appear in (broadly) alphabetical order by first name. *** NB it is still a work in progress ***

VOCALISTS & MUSICIANS

Alice Waterhouse (flute) * Amy Winehouse * Angel Olsen * Annie June Callaghan * Ari Up & The Slits * Be Good Tanyas, The * Billie Holiday * Bjork * Black Belles, The * Cait O’ Riordan (Pogues) * Calista Williams (Bluebird) * Cindy Wilson & Kate Pierson (The B52s) * Cistem Failure * Clementine Douglas * Cosey Fanni Tutti * DakhaBrakha (well, 3/4 of them!) * Debbie Harry * Edith Piaf * Elizabeth Morris (Allo Darlin') * Holly Golightly * HoneyLuv * Katy-Jane Garside * Kelis * Kim Deal (Pixies & Breeders) * Maxine Peake * Maxine Venton & Mimi O'Malley (Captain Hotknives) * Meg White * Melanie Safka * Nico * Nina Simone * Patti Rothberg * Penny Ford (Snap!) * PJ Harvey * Rhoda Dakar (Special AKA) * Seamonsters, The * Siouxsie Sioux * Suzanne Vega * Tray Tronic * Trish Keenan (Broadcast)

VISUAL ARTS

Annegret Soltau * Anne Ophelia Dowden * Artemisia Gentileschi * Barbara Regina Dietzsch * Beverly Joubert * Camille Claudel * Clara Peeters * Dale DeArmond * Doreen Fletcher * Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale * Élisabeth Sonrel * Elisabetta Siriani * Elizabeth Mary Watt * Ella Hawkins * Evelyn De Morgan * Frida Kahlo * Gertrude Abercrombie * Helen Martins * Kate Gough * Laura Knight (Dame) * Leonora Carrington * Lily Delissa Joseph * Liza Ferneyhough * Magdolna Ban * Mandy Payne* Mary Delany * Miina Akkijrkka * Ndidi Ekubia * Pamela Colman-Smith * Paula Rego * Rachel Gale * 'Romany Soup' * Sarah Vivien * Shirley Baker * Siirkka-Liisa Konttinen * Sofonisba Anguissola * Sonia Delaunay * Tish Murtha * Vali Myers * Vanessa Bell

COMEDY, DANCE & DRAMA

Alicia Eyo & Carol Morley ('Stalin My Neighbour') * Claire Foy * Daisy May Cooper * Gabrielle Creevy & Jo Hartley ('In My Skin') * Isadora Duncan * Jessica Williams ('Love Life') * Lesley Sharp, Michelle Holmes & Siobhan Finneran ('Rita, Sue & Bob Too') * Michaela Coel ('I May Destroy You') * Morgana Robinson * Samantha Morton * Yasmin Paige (Jordana Bevan in ‘Submarine)

WRITERS, JOURNALISTS, SCHOLARS & POETS

Agatha Christie (MBE) * Andrea Dunbar * Anaïs Nin * Angela Thirkell * Anna Funder * Anna Wickham * Edith Holden * Elizabeth O'Neill * Enid Blyton * Harriet Beecher Stowe * Helen Castor (Dr.) * Hilary Mantel * Janina Ramirez (Dr.) * Jeannette Kupfermann * Jenny March (Dr.) * Jenny Wormald (Dr.) * Lia Leendertz * Mary Oliver * Orna Guralnik (Dr.) * Rachel Beer * Susie Boniface * Virginia Woolf

HISTORICAL FIGURES

Anne, Queen of Great Britain * Anne Boleyn, Queen of England * Anne of Cleves, Queen of England * Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni * Cartimandua, Queen of the Brigantes * Catherine de’ Medici, Queen Consort/Regent of France * Catherine Parr, Queen of England * Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England * Catherine of Valois, Queen of England * Christine de Pizan * Cixi, Empress of China (aka Empress Tz'u-hsi ) * Eleanora of Austria, Queen of France * Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of France; Queen of England; Duchess of Aquitaine * Eleanor of Castile * Eleanor Talbot ("The Secret Queen") * Elizabeth I Queen of England * Elizabeth Woodville, Queen Consort of England * Elizabeth of York, Queen Consort of England * Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia * Hatshepsut, Pharaoh of Egypt *Hildegard of Bingen * Isabeau of Bavaria, Queen of France * Isabella I, Queen of Castile * Isabella of Aragon, Princess of Asturias * Isabella of Portugal, Empress Consort of Holy Roman Empire and Queen Consort of Spain, Germany & Italy * Isabella of France, Queen of England * Jacquetta of Luxemburg * Jane Grey (Lady), Queen of England for Nine Days * Jane Seymour, Queen of England * Juana (aka Joanna), Queen of Castile * Katherine Howard, Queen of England * Louise of Savoy, Regent of France * Margaret of Anjou, Queen Consort of England * Margaret of Austria [check which one] * Margaret Beaufort, Lady * Marie Antoinette, Queen of France * Mary I, Queen of England * Mary II, Queen of England, Scotland & Ireland * Mary, Queen of Scots * Mary of Austria [check which one] * Mary of Burgundy, Duchess * Matilda, Holy Roman Empress * Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem * Sophia of Hanover, Electress * Tatya Betul, Empress of Ethiopia * Theodora, Empress of Byzantium * Victoria, Queen of England & Empress of India

SAINTS & BIBLICAL/CHRISTIAN REFERENCES

Anna (wife of Tobit) * Apollonia (Saint) * Barbara (Saint) * Catherine of Alexandria (Saint) * Ecclesia * Eve (the first woman) * Felicitas of Rome (Saint) * Genevieve (Saint) * Godeberta * Jael * Jezebel * Judith * Lucy (Saint) * Margaret of Scotland (Saint) * Mary Magdalene * Rahab * Rose of Lima (Saint) * Synagoga * The Queen of Sheba * Thérèse of Lisieux (Saint) * Virgin Mary, The* "Whore of Babylon", The * Ursula (Saint)

MYTHOLOGICAL

Anat * Asherah * Astarte * Atalanta * Aurora * Baba Yaga * Circe * Chhinnamasta * Clio/Kleio * Demeter (Rmn: Ceres) * Dido, Queen of Carthage * Durga * Elaine of Astolat * Europa * Eurydice * Hathor * Hesperides * Io * Isolde/Iseult * Isis * Juno (Gk: Hera) * Kali * Kriemhild/Gudrun * Kudshu * Lakshmi * Persephone (Rmn: Proserpine) * Radha * Sabine Women, The * Sati * Sedna * Sirens, The (half-female, half-bird) * Three Graces, The * Valkyries, The * Venus (Aphrodite)

WIVES, MUSES, CONSORTS & SIGNIFICANT OTHERS

Anastasia Romanovna (wife of Ivan the Terrible) * Anne Hyde (1st wife of James, Duke of York; she did not live long enough to see him become James II) * Anne Lovell (wife of Sir Francis Lovell) * Anne of Denmark (wife of James VI of Scotland/James I of England & Ireland) * Bella Chagall (wife of Marc Chagall) * Catherine of Braganza (wife of Charles II) * Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Queen of England as wife of George III) * Clementine Churchill (wife of Winston Churchill) * Diane de Poitiers (royal mistress to the French king, Henry II) * Emma Hamilton, Lady (mistress of Lord Horatio Nelson) * Evelyn Pyke-Nott (wife of John Byam Shaw) * Françoise Gilot (partner of Pablo Picasso) * Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk (mother of Lady Jane Grey) * Henrietta-Maria (wife of Charles I) * Lady Martha Temple (wife of Sir William Temple) * MacDonald sisters, The (Alice, Georgiana, Agnes and Louisa) * Marguerite of Navarre/Angoulême (sister of French king, Francis I) * Mary of Modena (2nd wife of James VI and I, King of Scotland, England, and Ireland) * Mary Shelley (mentioned as wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley, though a renowned author in her own right) * Mary Soames (daughter of Winston Churchill & wife of Christopher Soames) * Mary Stuart (daughter of Charles I and mother of the future William III) * Mary Watts (wife of George Frederic Watts, and designer and artist in her own right) * Olga Khokhlova (1st wife of Pablo Picasso) * Portia (wife of Brutus) *

2OTH CENTURY & MODERN DAY

Christabel Pankhurst * Emily Wilding Davison * Emmeline Pankhurst * 'Gulabi Gang' * Hannah Hauxwell * Helen Keller * Hilary Clinton * Liz Truss * Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll * Mata Hari * Melina Mercouri * Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe * Rahima Mahmut * Sylvia Pankhurst *

#flip

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