I actually do find filling out the spreadsheets quite cathartic in a way. Not only that, but it amazes me how many strangely specific jobs there are in Queen Catherine Braganza's English household. From job titles such as Wardrobe Keeper's Man to Necessary Woman, it would appear that there is at least one person for even the most obscure jobs in this household. I don't even know what most of these people actually do, which makes it all the more intriguing. I mean, I'm assuming a Necessary Woman is pretty important judging from that title....
Anyway, last week I introduced all of you to the most important member of this household, Queen Catherine Braganza herself. I was a bit worried about who I could talk about this week since it's kind of hard to beat the queen. However, as I was going through the list of household members, I was shocked to see one of the names on there, Barbara Palmer, Countess of Castlemaine. The King's mistress was right there on the list! Perhaps it is in poor taste, but I am going to follow my post about Queen Catherine with one relating the life of her husband's prime mistresses, Lady Castlemaine.
Born in November 1640, Barbara was the only daughter
of William Villiers, second Viscount Grandison and his wife, Mary. Though I can't be sure what type of role models she had or how she was raised, it seems as though Barbara only ever had one aspiration in life, which was to be someone's mistress.
Barbara became the mistress of Philip Stanhope, second earl of Chesterfield, while living in London in around 1656. She would send him flirtatious little notes such as, "the joy I have of being with you the last night, has made me doe nothing but dream of you". With the ego she must have given men from these notes, no wonder Barbara was such a popular mistress. She continued this affair even after marrying Roger Palmer, second son of Sir James Palmer of Dorney Court, Buckinghamshire, in 1659. She eventually bore him a daughter, Anne, in 1661. Although her affair continued until 1660, it wasn't long before she became mistress to a much more important man than Philip Stanhope, King Charles II.
Though it is not exactly known how she met Charles II, it is thought that their affair began about 2 or 3 weeks after his arrival in London in May 1660. By July of that same year, Barbara and her husband were living just across from the privy garden of Whitehall Palace. Diarist Samuel Pepys would note the music he could hear from the house, which was an entertainment put on for the King and his brother by Barbara herself. She and Charles II were definitely not subtle about their relationship. Determined to give her a title, Charles granted her husband Roger Palmer the title of Baron Limerick and earl of Castlemaine, thus making Barbara Lady Castlemaine in December, 1661. Continuing to ignore any notion of subtlety, in June 1662 Lady Castlemaine bore her and Charles II's first son whom she named...Charles.
Not long after he was baptized, Barbara and her husband separated. This was apparently a result of him baptizing her son in a Catholic ceremony, though one wonders if that was really the ONLY reason. Meanwhile, Charles' new bride, Catherine of Braganza, arrived in May 1662. Obviously quite determined to keep her elevated place as the king's mistress, Castlemaine proposed her appointment of lady of the bedchamber to Catherine. Needless to say, Catherine did not take this so well, refusing to accept this appointment at first. However, with the backing of Charles, she got her appointment, despite the disapproval of the queen. Lady Castlemaine was definitely proud of her position in the household. She often appeared at court events, sometimes taking a leading part in them. She even formed an alliance with the court artist, Sir Peter Lely, who painted a series of portraits of her in several guises, including that of St. Catherine, which is seen as a direct jab at the queen. She was fantastic at self-promoting herself, and one has to admit that she had a lot of guts to go up against the queen so blatantly.
In January 1663, there were rumors that Castlemaine was having an affair with the courtier Henry Jermyn, though this did not affect her position as royal mistress at the time. Though she experienced rivals for the king's affections at times, such as a maid of honor named Frances Stewart, she continued to control most of the King's love life. Her second son, Henry Fitzroy, was born on September of 1663 and their daughter Charlotte in September 1664. Lady Castlemaine remained as gutsy as ever, seating herself in Charles' theater box and hosting magnificent dinners for Charles and other prominent characters such as the French Ambassador and his wife. She wasn't at all shy about her position as mistress. In fact, she seemed to use every chance she had to flaunt it. Her last child with the king was born George Fitzroy in December of 1665. Her children were one of her main advantages over Catherine, as the queen could not bear children.
Castlemaine was also well known for her tactic of withdrawing from the court unless she got what she wanted. This is what led to her great involvement of several appointments such as Henry Bennet, earl of Arlington, and Charles Berkeley, earl of Falmouth, who were eventually appointed secretary of state and keeper of the privy purse. This woman had a lot of control, seemingly much more than Queen Catherine even had. It helped that anyone who showed any sort of hostility towards Castlemaine was rebuked by the king, as she always tended to have his full support. If Catherine wanted certain people appointed to high positions, they were appointed. If she wanted them gone, they were gone.
Castlemaine was also known to be courted by foreign ambassadors. Showing a willingness to work for the French interest, she began to pass information to Ambassador de Croissy about the attitudes of the king and his ministers. This was due to the upcoming Anglo-French treaty in 1669. She and the ambassador would give dinners in honor of each other and she even received a substantial gift from Louis XIV. She attended the state visit of the king's sister Henriette-Anne in 1670 when the treaty was secretly signed. In 1670 she was given several grants by the king including her appointment as duchess of Cleveland and countess of Southampton. She was also given several palace apartments and substantial pensions for life by the king. Castlemaine seemed set for life with so many titles, lands, and funds granted to her. However, her status began declining at court in 1670, affecting her ability to collect such pensions, as she was eventually owed around £23,000.
The end of Castlemaine's reign finally came with the arrival of Louise de Kéroualle, duchess of Portsmouth, who became the new leading royal mistress. Castlemaine still retained some relations with the king as their children helped her to maintain some importance at court, and she was still quite wealthy. However, her control of the king was pretty much over. In 1673 she had resigned her place in the queen's bedchamber and in 1675 the duchess of Portsmouth's son by the king was created a duke before her own sons.
Finding herself in an eventual need of finances, Barbara took her daughters with her to be educated in Paris in 1678, hoping to find greater luck there. She later established several relationships in Paris, including one with the English ambassador, Ralph Montagu, and another man named Henri de Chatillon. However, she only stayed in France for about four years, returning to England in 1682. Upon her return, she was regarded as quite unimportant in the court as a result of the king's current mistress, duchess of Portsmouth. In 1705 she married Robert Feilding, a former army captain. However, this turned out to be a bigamous marriage, as he had also recently married a woman named Mary Wadsworth. Once she was informed of such marital conditions by his first wife in 1706, she confronted him about it, only to be threatened by him with a gun. He was subsequently arrested and their marriage was annulled in May 1707. She lived her remaining years in Chiswick and died of dropsy (edema) on October 9, 1709.
Lady Castlemaine is definitely an interesting woman of history. Though she was not the queen, she had more control over both Charles II and his royal court while she was his royal mistress. She was well known for being very beautiful and had a great brilliance for knowing how to self-promote herself in court. Lady Castlemaine was so bold she would even go up against the queen, flaunting her affair with Charles at every turn. She was honestly very impressive to me, as she must have had a lot of guts to do such things. Learning about her relationship with Charles actually surprised me as well. I was aware that the mistresses of kings lived quite the life of luxury, but I had never imagined they could have so much influence within the court. Neither her nor Charles ever seemed to be worried about hiding their relationship from the public. Meanwhile, poor Catherine had to sit in the background and watch this woman influence the court, in some ways more than she ever could. I never could have imagined that a mistress would have more power than the queen, but Lady Castlemaine appears to have proven me quite wrong.
Wynne, S. M.. “Palmer , Barbara, countess of Castlemaine and suo jure duchess of Cleveland (bap. 1640, d. 1709).” S. M. Wynne In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. Online ed., edited by David Cannadine, January 2008. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/28285 (accessed September 18, 2016).
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