beau–brummell: Fabulous women of the Restoration eraMargaret Brooke, Lady Denham (1647-1667)St

beau–brummell:Fabulous women of the Restoration eraMargaret Brooke, Lady Denham (1647-1667)Still in her teens, Margaret Brooke was married to Sir. John Denham, a man almost 30 years her senior. For someone as pretty and vivacious as Margaret, living in a libertine and carefree age, this could’ve been a death knell. And yet, Margaret was determined, with her newfound status as Lady Denham, to take her pleasures where she found them at the pretty and witty court of King Charles II of England, the merriest man to have the burden of a crown affixed to his head.Very early on in her courtly career, she became noted as a beauty and was chosen as one of the select few to be painted by Sir. Peter Lely in a commission for Anne Hyde, Duchess of York, a collection known to history as the “Windsor Beauties.” On seeing her portraits, one immediately understands why she was utterly irresistible to those who came across her. Like many ladies before and after her, she saw that the only way to gain power and pleasure as a woman was to become the mistress of a powerful and wealthy man. Margaret first set her cap at the greatest prize of all: the King himself. But her plans came to nothing when Charles II’s official mistress, the tempestuous Barbara Villiers, learnt of Lady Denham’s schemes and put a stop to to them. It was around this time of obvious disappointment that Margaret caught the eye of the second best prize: the King’s brother, James, Duke of York. James was approaching his 35th birthday when he fell in love with 18 year old Margaret. She was lusty and vigorous….and quite the dominant, something that James seemed to wholeheartedly enjoy.In his famous diary, Samuel Pepys notes that James was “wholly given over” to Margaret as early as June 1666, although he also notes (rather resentfully) that she is “that bitch of Denham.” The pair went hunting together and when Margaret beckoned, James came to her. Margaret told James, when he rushed to visit her at her residence in Scotland Yard, that she would not be a secret mistress and would not allow his visits to be clandestine: she wanted to be, in her own words, “owned publicly.” James obliged, much to the chagrin of his wife, the Duchess of York (who must now have been resenting giving Lady Denham any credence in the collection of Lely’s beauties) and to Margaret’s own spouse. The Duchess of York in particular was known for being incredibly jealous and making a public scene. In October 1666, Pepys notes that he and another diarist, John Evelyn, observed James’ behaviour with Lady Denham at court. The pair would speak and when Margaret left to talk with someone else, James would follow her “like a little dog.” John Evelyn called it “bitchering” but both Margaret and James were seemingly lovestruck.Tragedy was to strike in December 1666, however. Margaret became involved in faction politics and was not adverse to giving James her opinion, something which had possibly once drawn him in but now made him tired. He began to visit her less and took up with a new court lady, Lady Chesterfield. Margaret actually caught James with his hands in an interesting position under Lady Chesterfield’s skirts at the Queen’s gambling table. It was also around this time that Margaret fell extremely ill. By the 7th of January, she was dead, possibly before even reaching her 20th birthday.How did such a healthy young woman die before her time? Many suspected poisoning. Indeed, the finger was pointed at James’ wife, the Duchess of York and soon, gossip decided that the Duchess had given Margaret’s husband poison to put in a cup of cocoa: the first death by chocolate. The poet, Andrew Marvell, immortalised this in his poem Last Instructions to a Painter: “What frosts to fruit, what arsenic to the rat,/ What to fair Denham, mortal chocolate.” But it seems that upon Margaret’s post-mortem, physicians found, in the words of Pepys’, “a vessel about her matrix which had never been broke by her husband, that caused all pains in her body. Which if true is excellent invention to clear both the Duchesse from poison.” This sounds like an unreasonable cause of death and also doesn’t add up with Margaret and James’ all-too-obvious sexual relationship. Modern doctors observing the case have come to the conclusion that, whilst it may have been a number of things other than poison or “death by virginity,” it was probably cervical cancer or an ectopic pregnancy. James was shaken by Margaret’s death and the scandal that surrounded it, and deeply regretful of his behaviour, so much so that he declared he would never again take a public mistress…a promise that, whilst well-intentioned, was never kept.And so ends the reign of Denham.Click on the links for portraits of and information on the included persons in Margaret’s story! -- source link

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