WEBVTT - The Mistress Makes Her Escape 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:04.560 Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:12.200 and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised Queen Anne 0:00:12.440 --> 0:00:16.720 didn't have any living heirs, and because England would need 0:00:16.760 --> 0:00:20.799 a Protestant monarch when she died, the throne would be 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:25.160 going over to the Hanover branch of the family in Germany. 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:29.360 With that in mind, a woman named Henrietta Howard and 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:33.960 her husband Charles boarded a boat from England to Germany 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:39.479 with one simple goal to go from penniless nobodies to 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:45.319 official members of the new incoming royal court. Henrietta and 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:49.320 Charles had gotten married six and a half years earlier. 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:55.200 They had originally met under dire circumstances. Although Henrietta came 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:59.000 from a noble family, it had fallen apart with the 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:02.640 death of her mother, her father, and four of her siblings. 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:09.200 At just sixteen, Henrietta had become the oldest surviving representative 0:01:09.319 --> 0:01:13.480 of the family. Medical bills were piling up and her 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:17.080 fortune was in danger, so she sought out the help 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:22.440 of the Hobart's family friends. Taking pity on Henrietta, the 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:26.120 Hobarts invited her to stay with them in their Jacobean 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:32.199 mansion near saffron Walden. There she met Charles, the family's 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:36.080 youngest son, who was fourteen years older than she was. 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:40.399 Charles was a high up military official at the time, 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:45.160 nicknamed Salamander because he fought in the hottest parts of 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:49.760 the battlefield. Other than that, Charles didn't have a lot 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:58.600 going for him. Someone described him as quote wrongheaded, ill tempered, obstinate, drunken, extravagant, 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:03.280 and brutal on account of his profligate drinking, spending, and 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:08.079 sleeping around. We don't know what attracted them to each other. 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:12.880 One of Henrietta's friends later wrote, quote how she came 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:15.919 to love him or how he came to love anybody 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:21.079 is unaccountable unless from a certain fatality, which often makes 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:27.799 hasty marriages. Whether or not there was a timely motivating factor, 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:33.440 it's undeniable that both Henrietta and Charles did have financial 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:37.560 motives to get hitched. Even though Henrietta's family was in 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:41.440 dire financial straits, her father had made sure that her 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:46.080 large dowry would be protected before his death, which led 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:50.760 to a potentially large payday for Charles. What's more, the 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:56.000 terms of Henrietta's father's and great grandfather's wills stated that 0:02:56.080 --> 0:03:00.840 Henrietta would receive a significant inheritance and a hoddest income 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:05.519 paid twice a year only if she got married. Shortly 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:10.480 after the wedding, the marriage fell apart, with Charles frittering 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:15.600 away their modest fortune with gambling and shopping. The couple's 0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:21.240 financial circumstances became quote the reverse of opulent. According to 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:26.400 one contemporary, Charles fled to London to continue to party, 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:30.640 abandoning Henrietta in Berkshire with their young son, who was 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:34.880 born a year after the wedding. Henrietta insisted that she 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:38.880 and Charles move in together in London, and once they did, 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:44.200 things only worsened. As historian Tracy Borman put it, quote, 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:48.960 her respectable life as a gentleman's daughter had been transformed 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:53.040 into one of misery and humiliation as the wife of 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:57.840 a notorious drunk and philanderer. The shame of her situation 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:03.000 compelled her to live in crely apart from society, concealing 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:07.480 herself and her misery from the world end quote. Any 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:12.600 good will keeping their marriage together evaporated almost as quickly 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:16.120 as they had fallen in love. As one friend at 0:04:16.160 --> 0:04:20.440 the time put it, quote, thus they loved, Thus they married, 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:23.560 and thus they hated each other for the rest of 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:28.880 their lives. Trapped in a loveless, brutal marriage, out of 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:32.840 money and with her husband on the run from various creditors, 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:39.280 Henrietta needed to find a way out. Luckily, political circumstances 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:44.320 gave them the perfect opportunity. After the Glorious Revolution in 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:49.920 sixteen eighty eight sparked a succession crisis, Parliament passed an 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:53.839 Act of Settlement in seventeen o one, which allowed the 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:58.320 Electoral House of Hanover to take over England once Queen 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:02.839 Anne died. Henrietta planned to go to Germany and win 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:07.000 the favor of the Hanover family to secure herself and 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:11.080 her husband positions in the royal court. When the Hanovers 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:15.039 eventually came to rule over England, it would be a 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:20.080 long shot. Henrietta and Charles were from relatively small time 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:24.520 aristocratic families that the Hanovers wouldn't have been familiar with. 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:28.760 Henrietta didn't have the fancy clothes to woo the new 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:32.360 royal family, and she had sold all of her furniture 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:36.440 and jewelry in order to afford the voyage over to Germany. 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:40.520 Worse yet, she had to bring Charles over to Germany 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:44.960 with her, since a noble woman traveling alone would not 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:50.200 have been a respectable look. Given Charles's bad temper and 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:56.120 cold reserved personality, he could hurt their chances, but Henrietta 0:05:56.320 --> 0:06:00.880 didn't have any other options. Winning over the Hannover was 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:09.080 her last resort. I'm Danish Schwartz and this is noble blood. 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:13.960 After traveling, as Henrietta put it, in the meanest and 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:18.839 most fatiguing manner, Henrietta and Charles found themselves in Hanover 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:22.800 in early seventeen fourteen. It was up to them to 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:27.040 endear themselves to the electoral family so they could eventually 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:31.120 secure themselves spots in the royal court, or they could 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:35.920 return to England in disgrace. Henrietta started at the task, 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:41.360 immediately applying for an introduction. She quickly made an impression. 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:46.479 She was an excellent courtier, both lively and demure. She 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:50.920 quickly embedded herself within the royal household, spending nearly all 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:54.040 of her free hours at the court in Herrenhausen trying 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:58.640 to prove her worth. Soon she noticed that the electoral 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:03.640 Princess Caredine of Ansbach took a particular liking to her. 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:08.520 Caroline was known for her intellect and patronage of the arts. 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:13.760 She rubbed shoulders with philosophers like Voltaire and the composer Handel. 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:19.440 But Caroline's husband, Prince George the second of Hanover, couldn't 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:23.520 have been less interested. He had once declared I hate 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:29.520 poets and painters both, and called reading and learning something 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:35.760 mean and below him. Henrietta expressed to Caroline a fondness 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:40.920 for the mathematician Gottfried Liebnitz, whom Caroline had been studying 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:45.680 under since she was a child. This so endeared Henrietta 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:49.960 to Caroline that Henrietta was made an official Dame Dupillai. 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:56.120 Despite George's distaste for anything intellectual, he was taken with 0:07:56.200 --> 0:08:01.000 Henrietta as well. Not only was she attractive, modest, and obedient, 0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:05.160 she was also a great listener. George was known to 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:10.880 be extremely boring. One courtier described his tedious conversations about 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:16.240 military victories or European royal genealogy as always the same thing, 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:20.640 over and over again. But if Henrietta was bored to tears, 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:26.160 she didn't show it. She always appeared genuinely wrapped. Caroline 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:29.320 was relieved to have someone else listening to her husband's 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:33.680 monotonous stories for a change. Even though Henrietta was making 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:37.560 her name in the Hanover family, it wasn't enough. She 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:40.719 also needed to make sure her husband, Charles could win 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:44.920 over the Prince and Princess. Somehow, Charles managed to put 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:48.360 his temper aside and charm the male members of the 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:52.559 Hanover household, winning his spot in the Royal Court as well. 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:58.280 After just six months in the Hanover household, Henrietta and 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:02.080 Charles faced a turning point in their career. In August 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:07.400 seventeen fourteen, the Electress George the Second Grandmother passed away, 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:11.240 and a few weeks later, Queen Anne of England died 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:15.200 as well. This made George the First the King of 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:19.559 England and Caroline and George the Second the new Princess 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:24.840 and Prince of Wales. After the coronation, Caroline and George 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:28.480 the Second began to determine who would get spots in 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:33.040 their new English Royal Court. All of the good will 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:37.720 Charles and Henrietta had generated had to pay out. While 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:42.480 Caroline and George had promised them positions that was no guarantee. 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:47.520 Competition was fierce because George the First and his wife 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:52.640 were estranged. There was no real queen consort, leaving Caroline 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:55.839 as the best way for a woman to embed herself 0:09:55.880 --> 0:10:00.960 within the court. Other ladies of aristocratic heritage were bribing 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:05.559 royal officials or using their family connections to secure their spots, 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:11.000 which Henrietta, whose family was mostly dead or destitute, had 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:16.400 no hope of doing. But luckily, the Princess appointed Henrietta 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:21.599 a Woman of the Bedchamber on October twenty sixth, seventeen fourteen. 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:26.400 Charles also landed a position in court, becoming a Groom 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:30.400 of the Bedchamber to the new King, George the First, 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:35.520 Caroline's father in law. Although Henrietta and Charles were technically 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:39.120 employed in separate households, they got to live together in 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:43.840 an apartment at Saint James's Palace rent free, a huge 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:46.840 upgrade from the dismal flat that they had stayed in 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:50.440 before they left for Hanover. They were also paid a 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:55.000 significant salary, five hundred pounds a year for Charles and 0:10:55.240 --> 0:11:00.000 three hundred for Henrietta. Although the couple's financial standing improved, 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:04.600 their marriage was still in shambles as Charles continued to 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:11.839 berate and mistreat his wife. Even though Henrietta was still 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:14.840 suffering in her marriage, at least she had her new 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:18.839 position to distract her. As a woman of the bedchamber, 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:22.640 she took turns with seven other women to be quote 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:26.760 in waiting. When it was her turn, Henrietta got up 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:30.280 before the princess, filled up her bath with hot water, 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:33.760 said her morning prayers with her, and dressed her in 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:38.280 her undergarments. Throughout the day, Henrietta would run whatever errands 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:43.000 Caroline needed or attended to her appearance, before retiring to 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:47.720 the princess's private apartments in the evenings to read, chat 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:51.120 and play cards, or to accompany the princess to the 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:56.000 drawing room if there were any formal gatherings. Afterwards, Henrietta 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:58.920 would undress the princess and get her ready for bed, 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:02.120 finishing her work as late as two in the morning. 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:05.920 Being a woman of the ben chamber required putting in 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:10.480 long hours and was often unpredictable, given that you would 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:14.640 be attending to Caroline's every whim. The hardest part of 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:18.199 the job for Henrietta, at least at the beginning, wasn't 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:21.920 dealing with the princess, but rather dealing with the dramas 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:26.760 of the rest of the court. Rivalries abounded, and quarrels 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:29.920 among the ladies in waiting could start up over matters 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:33.120 as small as who kissed the lady on the cheek. 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:37.160 Henrietta tried to stay out of these squabbles and became 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:42.719 known as the Swiss because of her neutrality. But Henrietta's 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:47.480 neutrality would be put to the test. George the Second 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:51.760 and his father, the King, had always had a fraught relationship, 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:56.000 but their animosity was kept at bay until the christening 0:12:56.120 --> 0:13:01.400 of George the Second's son, George William. After a dispute 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:04.520 over who should be the godfather of the child came 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:07.640 to a head. The Prince went up to his father's 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:10.960 chosen candidate and said, you are a rascal, but I 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:16.200 shall find you. Unfortunately, his heavy German accent meant that 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:21.319 everyone thought he had said I'll fight you. In response, 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:25.520 George the First put his own son, the Prince of Wales, 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:30.920 under house arrest. This left Henrietta out of work. She 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:35.560 couldn't go to the Princess's apartment without a guardsman pointing 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:39.800 a halbert at her breast, preventing her from entering. Prince 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:43.800 and princess were under arrest at Saint James's for four 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:48.160 days until the King expelled the royal couple from court. 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:55.280 The chaos sent the palace into a tizzy, putting Henrietta's 0:13:55.360 --> 0:14:00.680 previously secure position at risk. Because Charles and Henriettetta now 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:03.680 worked for households that were at war with each other, 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:08.840 they were barred from living together at Saint James. Henrietta 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:13.560 had to pick between staying with her abusive husband, potentially 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:18.360 jeopardizing her position at court, or living separately from Charles 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:22.960 and risking her reputation worse. It was now that Henrietta's 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:27.360 health started to fail. She had suffered from horrible headaches 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:31.280 throughout her twenties, and around this time she started losing 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:36.360 her hearing. This was a huge blow, As Tracy Borman 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:39.040 put it, quote, to be hard of hearing in a 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:43.280 world that fed on gossip, intrigue, and scandal was clearly 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:47.840 a great disadvantage. But still, the prospect of losing her 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:53.880 hearing and staying with an abusive man seemed unbearable. After 0:14:54.000 --> 0:15:01.000 much deliberation, Henrietta approached Charles about a potential compromise. Charles 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:04.880 immediately flew into a rage. That Henrietta would even consider 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:10.480 choosing the princess over him. Steely with resolve, Henrietta left 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:14.800 the apartments without taking any of her belongings. Charles sent 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:18.360 a message that he no longer considered her his wife, 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:21.720 and she made it clear that she was equally done 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:26.440 with the marriage. Siding with Caroline and George the second 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:30.520 over the King and her own husband was a startling 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:35.520 show of loyalty. Henrietta threw herself into life at court, 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:39.360 hosting dinner parties at Hampton Court and winning over all 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:44.440 who attended. In spite of her difficult circumstances. She had 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:47.360 as much good nature as if she had never seen 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:50.840 any ill nature and had been bred among lambs and 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:55.320 turtle doves instead of princes and court ladies. One dinner 0:15:55.360 --> 0:16:00.600 party attendee remarked among Henrietta's admirers, but as the Prince 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:04.320 of Wales himself, not only was he attending all of 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:09.560 Henrietta's dinner parties, he found himself visiting Henrietta's apartments more often, 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:13.800 spending three or four hours at a time regaling her 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:19.320 with his probably boring stories of his military achievements. It 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:22.600 seemed he was on the hunt for a mistress. He 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:27.800 had recently been rejected by another courtier. This left Henrietta 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:33.720 with another difficult choice. The Prince was, despite his title, 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:39.520 not exactly prince charming. He was dull, ugly, and, like 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:44.080 her husband, prone to rages. If she pursued an affair 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:46.600 with him, she would have a target on her back 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:51.320 from the rest of the court, including potentially his wife Caroline, 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:56.160 who was still her boss. Worse yet, Henrietta's marriage was 0:16:56.200 --> 0:17:00.400 not technically over, even though she was a strange from 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:04.359 her husband, and cheating on him could put her reputation 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:08.400 further at risk. On the other hand, pursuing an affair 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:12.720 with the Prince of Wales could provide her with more money, power, 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:18.440 and prestige at court, which Henrietta desperately needed to avoid 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:22.480 a life of poverty with her husband. For better or 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:26.080 for worse, an affair with the Prince could change her 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:33.359 life forever. The affair probably began during the Prince and 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:39.080 Princess's stay at Richmond from June to September seventeen eighteen. 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:45.000 George and Caroline's summers away had a more casual atmosphere, 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:50.160 as quote formal occasions tended to be replaced by intimate 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:54.520 supper parties or evening strolls around the gardens. While the 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:59.800 summertime atmosphere was romantic, George the Second's reasons for pursuing 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:05.720 an affair with Henrietta were less so. George dutifully flirted 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:10.120 with various courtiers, but he always reserved his true passion 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:15.359 for his wife, even after thirteen years. Every evening after dinner, 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:19.560 George spent hours in Caroline's chambers and said that no 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:23.639 other woman could even buckle her shoe, but his wife 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:29.040 guy energy bucked standards for royal masculinity. There was a 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:32.880 rumor that Caroline truly wore the pants in the relationship. 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:37.560 A contemporary said that George seemed to look upon a 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:43.240 mistress rather as a necessary appertinence to his grandeur as 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:47.040 a prince, than in addition to his pleasures as a man. 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:51.679 Henrietta was an ideal choice. Not only was she a 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:57.000 great listener to his boring stories, but she was also discreet, appeasing, 0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:00.959 and well liked, unlikely to spread rooms about how he 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:04.600 was in bed or use her new power to sow 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:08.399 discord among the rest of the court. It was an 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:13.560 affair of convenience, in every sense a highly regimented person 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:18.359 with a strict daily routine. George went to Henrietta's apartments 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:22.920 every night at exactly seven o'clock, with quote such dull 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:27.120 punctuality that he frequently walked about his chamber for ten 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:30.200 minutes with his watch in his hand if the stated 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:34.800 minute was not arrived. He did this while also visiting 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:38.280 his wife at her bedchambers for two hours every night 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:42.480 after dinner. If there was any interruption in this routine, 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:48.040 he would fly into a rage. Despite the regimented new schedule, 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:53.040 Henrietta's new role did have some perks. For one, George 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:56.840 paid her an annual salary of two thousand pounds, which 0:19:56.880 --> 0:20:01.000 would be more than two hundred and fifty thousand pounds today. 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:05.000 As the mistress to the heir to the throne, she 0:20:05.200 --> 0:20:08.520 was treated with more deference and respect by the rest 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:13.399 of the court. George's wife, Caroline, had a remarkably lax 0:20:13.600 --> 0:20:18.120 stance on the affair, at least initially. One courtier said 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:22.359 that she was so devoted to George's pleasures, which she 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:25.600 often told him were the rule of all her thoughts 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:29.440 and actions, that whenever he thought proper to find them 0:20:29.440 --> 0:20:33.320 with other women she even loved, whoever was instrumental to 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:38.879 his entertainment. But Caroline did not tolerate the prospect of 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:43.439 competing with another woman for political influence over the Prince. 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:46.920 She worried that Henrietta would use her three or four 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:52.080 hours a day with George to sway him politically. Henrietta's 0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:58.040 closest friends were powerful Tory politicians and sympathizers, who discussed 0:20:58.080 --> 0:21:03.800 their political opinions during her dinner soirese. Henrietta's own aspirations 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:07.560 were modest. She was more interested in her own safety 0:21:07.600 --> 0:21:12.840 and security than any broader political gains. But Caroline, as 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:17.439 a supporter of the opposing Whig Party, wanted to minimize 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:25.120 Henrietta's threat to the status quo. Caroline began condescending to Henrietta, 0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:30.359 calling her my dear Howard, while giving her increasingly lowly tasks. 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:34.159 She ordered Henrietta to kneel while she held her waist 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:39.399 basin a subtle indignity. Henrietta did so, but as Caroline 0:21:39.440 --> 0:21:44.119 continued to undermine her, Henrietta snapped. One day she told 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:49.400 off Caroline, refusing to kneel. Caroline responded, yes, my dear Howard, 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:52.760 I am sure you will. Indeed you will go go 0:21:53.119 --> 0:21:56.280 fie for shame, Go my good Howard. We will talk 0:21:56.320 --> 0:22:01.320 of this another time. Caroline also exploited Henrietta's fear of 0:22:01.400 --> 0:22:05.760 returning to her abusive husband. She told another courtier she 0:22:05.880 --> 0:22:08.400 knew I had held her up at a time when 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:10.840 it was in my power if I had pleased any 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:14.080 hour of the day, to let her drop through my fingers. 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:18.159 Thus humiliated, Henrietta knew that from that moment on she 0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:21.720 had no choice but to submit to Caroline's every whin 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:26.800 having to negotiate between the desires of Caroline and George 0:22:27.119 --> 0:22:30.080 began to take a toll on Henrietta. One of her 0:22:30.119 --> 0:22:33.040 friends said that she was forced to live in the 0:22:33.119 --> 0:22:36.399 constant subjugation of a wife with all the reproach of 0:22:36.440 --> 0:22:39.600 a mistress, and to flatter and manage a man whom 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:42.879 she must see and feel had as little inclination to 0:22:43.000 --> 0:22:47.639 her person as regard to her advice. Henrietta began to 0:22:47.680 --> 0:22:52.800 suffer more acute headaches and was at times bedridden, unable 0:22:52.840 --> 0:22:56.760 to attend to Caroline as she was supposed to. Henrietta 0:22:56.920 --> 0:23:00.760 was growing increasingly frustrated with her life at court and 0:23:00.840 --> 0:23:05.480 wanted to plot and escape. Shockingly, the Prince was amenable 0:23:05.520 --> 0:23:08.600 to helping her, fairly bored with her at this point, 0:23:08.760 --> 0:23:12.000 he gifted her some diamond jewelry, a ruby cross, a 0:23:12.040 --> 0:23:15.360 gold watch, and all of the furniture in her and 0:23:15.400 --> 0:23:19.320 her servant's rooms. He also gave her a stock worth 0:23:19.440 --> 0:23:23.600 eleven thousand, five hundred pounds in the south Sea Company. 0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:27.600 Better Yet, in the settlement, the Prince wrote that the 0:23:27.680 --> 0:23:32.119 gifts were for quote Henrietta Howard alone, and not for 0:23:32.200 --> 0:23:37.440 the use or benefit of the said Charles Howard. Her husband. Thrilled, 0:23:37.760 --> 0:23:41.400 Henrietta started building a house that would be hers alone 0:23:41.520 --> 0:23:44.720 for her to escape to, but she had to keep 0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:48.480 this a secret from her husband, who, again, even though 0:23:48.520 --> 0:23:52.719 they were estranged, would still try and rest control of 0:23:52.760 --> 0:23:56.520 her new fortune. Henrietta also had to hide her plans 0:23:56.640 --> 0:24:02.400 from Caroline, who, despite tormenting Henriett, preferred having her as 0:24:02.480 --> 0:24:06.600 her husband's mistress as opposed to somebody more ambitious and 0:24:06.760 --> 0:24:13.119 threatening to her power. One worthwhile thing to briefly point 0:24:13.160 --> 0:24:16.639 out here is even as Henrietta's new fortune would be 0:24:16.720 --> 0:24:20.600 allowing her to build her tenuous independence, she would be 0:24:20.640 --> 0:24:25.040 directly profiting from the oppression of others. The South Sea 0:24:25.080 --> 0:24:28.840 Company was involved in the transatlantic slave trade, and the 0:24:28.880 --> 0:24:32.159 materials that Henrietta was using to build her new house 0:24:32.520 --> 0:24:36.720 were sourced from the then British colony of Jamaica. This 0:24:36.800 --> 0:24:39.639 is one of the challenges when it comes to understanding 0:24:39.760 --> 0:24:43.240 historical figures, being able to put them in the context 0:24:43.240 --> 0:24:46.359 of when they lived, but also to try to understand 0:24:46.400 --> 0:24:51.080 that context and all of its complexities more fully. Anyway, 0:24:51.200 --> 0:24:54.880 it wasn't long before Charles found out about his wife's 0:24:55.080 --> 0:24:59.679 change in fortune. Immediately he started to blackmail her for 0:24:59.720 --> 0:25:03.879 the mo He petitioned the Archbishop of Canterbury to help him, 0:25:04.040 --> 0:25:06.480 knowing that if he brought the issue to trial in 0:25:06.520 --> 0:25:10.920 the ecclesiastical courts, he would have a bulletproof case. There's 0:25:11.200 --> 0:25:14.280 no chance that a judge would side with an unfaithful 0:25:14.320 --> 0:25:18.680 wife over her long suffering husband. The case would also 0:25:18.800 --> 0:25:23.840 be a public scandal, putting Henrietta's reputation at further risk. 0:25:24.640 --> 0:25:28.159 Charles also threatened her by preventing her from ever seeing 0:25:28.200 --> 0:25:32.399 her son again, a son she missed dearly, given that 0:25:32.480 --> 0:25:36.080 she hadn't seen him since she arrived in Hanover so 0:25:36.440 --> 0:25:41.639 many years ago. Caroline also learned of Henrietta's attempt to 0:25:41.840 --> 0:25:45.400 escape court, and she told her that she would happily 0:25:45.560 --> 0:25:50.240 let Henrietta quit if she returned to her husband, which 0:25:50.280 --> 0:25:55.240 Henrietta did not want to do under any circumstances. So 0:25:55.520 --> 0:25:59.320 Henrietta was biding her time at court while she continued 0:25:59.359 --> 0:26:02.159 to build a country home at Marble Hill with her 0:26:02.200 --> 0:26:07.119 new gifted fortune. Charles decided on a new tactic to 0:26:07.240 --> 0:26:10.119 try to rest control of the fortune from his wife. 0:26:10.600 --> 0:26:14.240 He got a warrant from the Lord Chief Justice to 0:26:14.400 --> 0:26:17.720 seize his wife wherever he found her. She was so 0:26:17.880 --> 0:26:21.720 afraid of her husband that Henrietta hid at Leicester House 0:26:21.800 --> 0:26:25.199 for weeks, knowing that Charles wasn't going to try and 0:26:25.280 --> 0:26:29.800 forcibly remove her from a palace. When June rolled around, 0:26:30.000 --> 0:26:33.960 the royal household was preparing for their annual summer retreat 0:26:34.080 --> 0:26:38.840 to Richmond, and Henrietta was terrified. She was worried that 0:26:39.000 --> 0:26:42.320 Charles would ambush her carriage on the way there and 0:26:42.440 --> 0:26:46.080 finally seize her for good. A duke told her that 0:26:46.200 --> 0:26:48.639 she could ride with him early in the morning before 0:26:48.680 --> 0:26:51.520 the rest of the coaches and stay in his more 0:26:51.560 --> 0:26:56.320 secure house to avoid her scheming husband. The plan worked. 0:26:56.720 --> 0:27:00.159 She made it to the Duke's house unscathed, but the 0:27:00.200 --> 0:27:03.920 experience terrified her. She wrote to one of her friends, 0:27:04.320 --> 0:27:07.240 I have not been abroad since I left London, nor 0:27:07.320 --> 0:27:10.960 have I courage yet to venture out. Her life would 0:27:10.960 --> 0:27:15.440 only get more complicated that summer. On June fifteenth, while 0:27:15.480 --> 0:27:18.879 the Prince and princess were taking an afternoon rest, they 0:27:18.960 --> 0:27:22.439 heard a knock at the door. The king had died. 0:27:23.640 --> 0:27:27.080 The Prince, of course, was furious, not because of his 0:27:27.200 --> 0:27:32.440 sudden promotion, but because the message had interrupted his precious 0:27:32.600 --> 0:27:37.240 daily routine. When he heard the news, he said, that 0:27:37.440 --> 0:27:41.720 is one big lie and left the room. From her 0:27:41.760 --> 0:27:47.000 isolation at the Duke's house, Henrietta weighed her options. The 0:27:47.080 --> 0:27:50.199 death of the king meant that her husband, who was 0:27:50.240 --> 0:27:53.520 installed in his court, was now out of a job, 0:27:54.040 --> 0:27:57.520 and he would probably be using everything in his power 0:27:57.600 --> 0:28:00.720 to try to steal her fortune and bring her back 0:28:00.800 --> 0:28:04.760 under his thumb. Even though Henrietta was trying to leave 0:28:05.000 --> 0:28:10.119 royal life altogether, the prince's promotion gave her an opportunity 0:28:10.240 --> 0:28:15.320 for even greater fortune, prestige, and security. She could become 0:28:15.480 --> 0:28:22.120 mistress to a king. After George the second became king. 0:28:22.600 --> 0:28:27.919 Politicians and courtiers alike began flooding Henrietta's apartments, trying to 0:28:27.960 --> 0:28:30.400 get her to put in a good word with the King. 0:28:31.000 --> 0:28:35.280 The busy and speculative politicians of the ante chamber, who 0:28:35.320 --> 0:28:39.800 knew everything but knew everything wrong, naturally concluded that a 0:28:39.880 --> 0:28:43.200 lady with whom the King passed so many hours every 0:28:43.280 --> 0:28:48.080 day must necessarily have some interest with him, and consequently 0:28:48.120 --> 0:28:51.760 applied to her, said one of her friends. Henrietta was 0:28:51.880 --> 0:28:55.560 apprehensive about all of these new requests and about her 0:28:55.600 --> 0:29:00.720 position in general. After the coronation, the royal family typically 0:29:00.880 --> 0:29:06.200 restructured their courts, Henrietta could easily be dismissed from her position. 0:29:07.200 --> 0:29:11.440 Henrietta's relationship with the new King, George, had been decaying. 0:29:12.000 --> 0:29:15.200 Even though he followed his routine of visiting her every 0:29:15.280 --> 0:29:20.000 day at seven, he was pretty much tiring of her. Once, 0:29:20.160 --> 0:29:23.840 a year after the coronation, she offended him by accident 0:29:23.920 --> 0:29:27.040 while they were walking together in the gardens at Saint James. 0:29:27.520 --> 0:29:31.320 He responded with such outrage that she worried she was 0:29:31.360 --> 0:29:35.680 going to be fired immediately. It's worth noting that perhaps 0:29:35.720 --> 0:29:39.880 this outburst was part of George's personality He had kept 0:29:39.960 --> 0:29:44.400 Henrietta around for almost ten years, longer than any of 0:29:44.440 --> 0:29:48.320