Courtiers

The Secret History of Kensington Palace

‘The kind of captivating history I most enjoy: full of unexpected stories.  It makes one look at Kensington Palace in an entirely new light'.  Lady Antonia Fraser

'Lucy Worsley writes with flair and passion about a lost world where smiles could kill and kisses condemn.’ Amanda Foreman

My next book is well on its way!  Courtiers, The Secret History of Kensington Palace will be coming out on 6 May 2010, and phew all the WORDS are WRITTEN.  Alas, the dreadful task of sorting the pictures out still lies ahead.

I’ve always been intrigued by the King’s Grand Staircase at Kensington Palace, painted by William Kent in the 1720s with the portraits of no less than forty-five servants working in the royal household.  These range from Peter the Wild Boy, an autistic child kept at court as a pet, Mohammed and Mustapha, the king’s Turkish valets, the bumptious painter himself, William Kent, his mistress the actress Elizabeth Butler, and the doctor and joker Dr Arbuthnot.

'Engaging and witty, yet also rigorous in its scholarship, Courtiers tells the scandalous stories of Kensington Palace in its Georgian hey-day'. Andrew Roberts

I had the idea to explore the Georgian court and royal family as it must have been seen through the eyes of the courtiers and servants, and I selected my favourite court characters to act as guides: a Maid of Honour who is no longer a maid, a Bedchamber Woman in more than one sense, a Vice Chamberlain with many vices, a penniless poet, a drunken equerry, an aging mistress or three, as well as the ridiculous king, the passionate prince, and the clever queen.

THANKS so much for all the suggestions when we were holding the ‘best subtitle’ vote!  My favourites were from Emma in Seattle, who suggested ‘By George, By Night’ or ‘Idylls and Idiots’.  Sadly my cruel editor vetoed both of them.

So now ... who WERE the courtiers? Let me introduce you ...

Mohammed, Keeper of the King's Closet (left). This Turk was George I's most intimate servant, to the extent of dressing him in the morning and treating the king's haemorrhoids.  Naturally, jealous noblemen said he must therefore be the king's sexually deviant plaything.

Peter the Wild Boy. An autistic child found living feral in the woods near Hanover, he was brought to court as a royal pet.  Dr Arbuthnot, the satirist (on the left, with the walking stick), looked after Peter and tried to teach him to speak.

Mrs Tempest, Queen Caroline's milliner. We know Mrs Tempest is in the picture, but we're not sure what her face looked like.  To judge from her hyper-fashionable black hood, Mrs Tempest is the lady on the right here.

William Kent. Painter to the stars, the bumptious William Kent was young, cheap and pushy.  His many friends described him as being 'very hot and very fat', and he eventually died of a 'life of high feeding and much inaction'.  That's his mistress, the actress Elizabeth Butler, whispering in his ear.

Mustapha (with beard). Another of the king's confidential valets, Mustapha was captured in battled against the Ottoman Empire and brought back to Hanover where he converted to Christianity and entered royal service.  He came over to London when George I became king of Great Britain, completing the most extraordinary journey.

Robert and Franciscus, some of the assistants who helped Kent in designing the painting the fabulous King's Grand Staircase at Kensington Palace, from which these pictures are taken. 

A mysterious lady. The staircase still holds some secrets.  We don't know the identity of this lady, nor why she is signalling 'I do not love you' in the secret language of the fan.