Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg, Melusine’s eldest and favourite sibling, a brilliant and charismatic general and diplomat. He retired to the beautiful Palazzo Loredan in Venice.
Sophia of Hanover, George’s mother. This image dates from 1714, the year of her death. Her relationship with Melusine was, at best, chilly.
George in his youth, depicted c.1680–81 during his visit to England, where he was greeted enthusiastically by his royal cousins.
George I, painted soon after his accession in 1714.
Sophia Charlotte, George’s illegitimate half-sister. Contemporaries believed that both she and Melusine were George’s mistresses.
Portrait of Melusine, painted during one of her and George’s visits to Hanover, c.1720.
Klara Elisabeth von Platen, the beautiful, manipulative mistress of George’s father, Ernst August.
Sophia Dorothea of Celle, George’s wife and first cousin. Her elaborate dress reflects her desire to lead court fashion. Her children, Georg August and young Sophia Dorothea, are standing beside her.
Count Philipp Christoph von Königsmarck, Sophia Dorothea’s lover. Thackeray said of him, ‘one cannot imagine a more handsome, wicked, worthless reprobate.’
Georg August, son of George and Sophia Dorothea. Capricious and volatile, he hated his father but was always charming to Melusine.
Caroline of Ansbach, wife of Georg August. Entwined in her hair are some of Sophia’s pearls – ‘the Hanover pearls’ – which George had brought with him to England.
Sir Robert Walpole by Charles Jervas. Loud, rude and brilliant, Walpole had complete command of the House of Commons. His political abilities made him indispensable to both Melusine and George.
Young Sophia Dorothea, George’s only legitimate daughter, who left Hanover in 1706 to marry her first cousin, Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg-Prussia. Neglected by both her parents, she became a dreadful mother to her own children.
Portrait of Trudchen, aged eighteen or nineteen, painted during a holiday to Hanover, c.1720.
Sir Joshua Reynold’s painting of Melusine’s grandson, Frederick William, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe.
An anonymous satirical print of 1721, produced in the wake of the South-Sea Bubble. Melusine is shown hiding behind a screen in a richly decorated room, handing over money to Robert Knight, treasurer of the South Sea Company. He stands, whip in hand, poised to escape into exile. The table is inscribed with the words, ‘Patience and Time and Money set everything to rights’.
Sophia’s wonderful summer home at Herrenhausen. Once a simple hunting lodge, it became one of the most beautiful, and most envied, palaces in Europe.
A Royal Hunting Party at Göhrde, a former hunting lodge and Melusine’s favourite Hanoverian home. It was the place where she and George were at their most relaxed.
The grey marble chimney piece in Melusine’s drawing room at Kensington Palace stands at nearly six feet high.
Melusine’s magnificent staircase at Kensington Palace.
Notes on Illustrations
1. Portrait of Countess Ehrengard Melusine von der Schulenburg, Duchess of Kendal (1667–1743) (oil on canvas). 18th Century. Private Collection/The Bridgeman Art Library
2. Portrait of Countess Ehrengard Melusine von der Schulenburg, Duchess of Kendal (1667–1743) (oil on canvas). 18th Century. Private Collection/The Bridgeman Art Library
3. General Count Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg by Giovanni Antonio Guardi (1698–1760). 18th Century. Ca’ Rezzonico, Museo del Settecento, Venice/The Bridgeman Art Library
4. Sophie, electress of Hanover, (1630–1714). Copper engraving, unsigned and undated, c. 1701.akg-images
5. King George I as Prince of Hanover by Kneller, engraved by Richard Tompson after a painting by Sir Geoffrey Kneller. Fotomas/TopFoto
6. George I (1646–1723), c. 1715, Studio of Sir Geoffrey Kneller. The Royal Collection © 2011 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II / The Bridgeman Art Library/The Bridgeman Art Library
7. Gertrud von Schuamburg-Lippe, daughter of Melusine von der Schulenburg. Kloster Barsinghausen
8. Sophia Charlotte von Platen und Hallermund (1669–1726) by School of Sir Godfrey Kneller. Oil on canvas. culture-images/Lebrecht Music & Arts
9. Klara Elisabeth von Platen, Countess of Platen Hallermund, née Meysenbugh (1650–1700). culture-images/Lebrecht Music & Arts
10. Sophia Dorothea, (1666–1726), Hereditary Princess of Hanover, with her children Georg and Sophia Dorothea, painting by Jacques Vaillant, c.1692.
Mary Evans Picture Library/INTERFOTO/ARTCOLOR
11. Königsmarck, Philip Christoph Count of, (1665–1694), painting by Martin Meytens. Mary Evans Picture Library/INTERFOTO/Friedrich
12. King George II Georgius Augustus Electoral Prince of Brunswick (1683–1760). Fotomas/TopFoto
13. Princess Caroline Elizabeth by John Faber Jr, after Hans Hysing mezzotint, mid-18th century. © National Portrait Gallery, London
14. Portrait of Sir Robert Walpole (1676–1745) (oil on canvas) by Charles Jervas.18th Century. Private Collection/The Bridgeman Art Library
15. Melusine von der Schulenburg, unknown artist, c. 1720, oil on canvas, © Bomann-Museum Celle
16. Frederick William Ernest, Count of Schaumberg-Lippe, c.1767 (oil on canvas). The Royal Collection © 2011 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
17. ‘The Brabant Skreen’, 1721. A satire on the South Sea company. The Duchess of Kendal gives money to Robert Knight (treasurer of the company), to enable him to escape. Illustration from ‘Social Caricature in the Eighteenth Century . . . With over two hundred illustrations’ by George Paston (pseudonym of Emily Morse Symonds) (London, 1905). Print Collector/HIP/TopFoto
18. Herrenhausen Palace (built 1666–1714, rebuilt 1820–66 by Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves). View of the palace and the Great Garden (established from 1666). Copper engraving, 1714, unsigned; coloured at a later stage. akg-images
19. A Royal Hunting Party at Göhrde, 1725 (oil on panel). English School. The Royal Collection © 2011 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II / The Bridgeman Art Library
20. Kensington Palace, c. 1924 © Country Life
21. Kensington Palace, c. 1924 © Country Life
Acknowledgements
I should like to thank my agent, Vivienne Schuster, and my editor, Joshua Ireland, for their encouragement and enthusiasm. I am indebted to Professor Aubrey Newman, Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Leicester, who encouraged me throughout this project and first led me to believe that there was a book here. Huge thanks to my linguist friends who helped me with the translation of German and French sources, particularly Yehuda Shapiro and Jerry Gotel. Dr Amanda Jones at the Borthwick Institute for Archives, University of York, was enormously helpful regarding a morganatic marriage, and I am grateful to Antonio Jimenez-Milian, library assistant at York Minster Library, for his information on Lancelot Blackburn, Archbishop of York. Dr Joanna Marshner, Senior Curator at Kensington Palace, generously gave up a morning of her time to guide me behind the scenes there.
In Germany the curator at Celle Castle, Anke Wiesbrich, helped to make my trip there extremely productive. I am particularly grateful to her for unearthing a portrait of Melusine, previously unknown, in the bowels of Celle Castle, and for her detailed tour of Sophia Dorothea’s childhood home. The local historian Rolf Sahlfeld was very generous with his time and gave me an impromptu tour of Barsinghausen. Thanks to the ever-helpful staff at the London Library and the British Library.
The amazing Katy Rose cared for my children while I wrote. My mother Trudy Gold and my sister Tanya Gold were founts of wisdom and childcare.
Above all, my love and thanks go to my boys, Asher and Jake, and to my husband Phil. I am so grateful to them all for their affection, patience, and humour.
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