#lebellestuart

[elleshushan]

“It would be difficult to imagine less brain combined with more beauty” - The Count de Gramont. But ‘Le Belle Stuart’ managed to do very well for herself. A distant relative of the Royal Stuarts, Frances Teresa Stuart’s impoverished parents were in exile with Queen Henrietta Maria in France when Frances was born. After the Restoration, Frances arrived in the English court, instantly grabbing center stage. Samuel Pepys noted in his diary “...the greatest beauty I ever saw in my life.” The King was so smitten that he considered divorcing the Queen when Frances refused to become merely his mistress. Instead she eloped with another Stuart - Charles Stuart, 3rd Duke of Richmond and 6th Duke of Lennox. The very wealthy and dissipated duke didn’t last long, drowning after only 4 years of marriage. Frances became the Duchess of Lennox in her own right, returning to Court a very rich and even more desirable catch - but she never married again. In 1702 “Le Belle Stuart,” whose face became the image of Britannia on Britain’s coinage, commissioned a life-size wax model of herself, dressed in coronation robes. She placed it in the Richmond vault in Westminster Abbey where, in 1703, she was buried with her husband. Next to her effigy is her pet parrot, now believed to be the oldest stuffed bird in existence. ************************************** By Samuel Cooper, circa 1665, in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen @royalcollectiontrust. ************************************** #RoyalCollectionTrust #RoyalCollection #PortraitMiniature #PortraitMiniatures #MiniaturePortrait #HistoricArt #MiniaturePortraits #elleshushan #LeBelleStuart #17thcentury #FrancesTeresaStuart #CharlesII https://www.instagram.com/p/ByoCJEenh3n/?igshid=uopkpsann3fr

[elleshushan]

How’s this for a mouthful of titles - Charles Stuart, 3rd Duke of Richmond, 6th Duke of Lennox, Baron Stuart of Newbury, Earl of Litchfield, 12th Seigneur D’Aubigny, Lord Lieutenant and Vice-Admiral of Kent, Hereditary Great Chamberlain of Scotland, Hereditary Great Admiral of Scotland, Lord Lieutenant of Dorset, Gentleman of the Bedchamber and Knight of the Order of the Garter. None of these titles required any sort of effort so Stuart, cousin to Charles II, had plenty of time to apply himself to a life of licentiousness. He ran through two wives before eloping with the object of the King’s unrequited lust - the scrumptious Frances Teresa Stuart, ‘Le Belle Stuart’ (so many Stuarts in this story). Instantly banished from Court for their sins, the Duke accepted a real job - envoy to the Danish Court. There, at the age of 33, the degenerate Charles Stuart drowned at Elsinore. Le Belle Stuart, instantly filthy rich, retained for herself the title of Duchess of Lennox. After entombing her Duke in Westminster Abbey, she became a very merry widow. ************************************* Samuel Cooper (1609-1672) Charles Stuart, 3rd Duke of Richmond and 6th Duke of Lennox, circa 1665, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. @yalebritishart ************************************** #YaleCenterForBritishArt #PortraitMiniature #PortraitMiniatures #MiniaturePortrait #MiniaturePortraits #HistoricArt #elleshushan #17thCentury #BritishMiniature #BritishPortrait #BritishPortraitMiniature #SamuelCooper #LeBelleStuart #FrancesTeresaStuart (at Yale Center for British Art) https://www.instagram.com/p/ByQyhgfnKW_/?igshid=ko2qgjd39y78