capability brown | Author, Jane Lark's stories

I find them fascinating, again it’s my imagination which draws me.

I like picturing who has been near the trees in their life time, through generations and generations of people.

For instance at Stourhead in Stourton, Wiltshire, along the drive to the Georgian House, are trees which started growing in the Medieval period.

Every time I walk up the drive I imagine a group of knights thundering past me on horseback, tack and armour jangling. I love it.

My addiction for old trees is a regular joke between myself and my daughter. She teases me for going on about them, so when I go out without her I take pictures of the trees I spot and text them to her, to make her laugh.

Recently though I found a real gem at Hampton Court Palace. The belief is, it was planted by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown in 1769. It is a grape-vine, in a hothouse, in the Georgian gardens.

If it was planted by Capability Brown, it’s over 240 years old. Its base is 4 meters round and its longest rod is 120 meters. It’s stunning. Well I thought it was anyway.

To preserve the vine, the area beyond the greenhouse is left unplanted because the vine is so large it drains a huge amount of nutrition from the earth.

Another old tree I spotted at Hampton Court Palace appeared to be a Quince. It was planted near the vine, right up against the Palace. I imagine it is just as old as the vine, if not older. When I saw it I could picture the Queens of Britain picking a quince as they walked through the garden.

One favourite tree of mine is the seasonal Holly tree. there are many ancient Holly trees in the UK. When I saw this one I had visions of Henry VIII walking through the gardens of Hampton Court Palace with a one of his wives, or a courtesan, on his arm beside the Holly I saw.

It is simple imagination, but what makes life richer than imagination.

To see more details on the #Hampton Court Palace Great Vine and other facts on the Royal Palaces in London go to www.hrp.org.uk

Jane Lark is a writer of authentic, passionate and emotional love stories.

See the side bar for details of Jane’s books and Jane’s website www.janelark.co.uk to learn more about Jane. Or click ‘like’ on Jane’s Facebook page to see photo’s and learn historical facts from the Georgian, Regency and Victorian eras, which Jane publishes there. You can also follow Jane on twitter at @janelark

William probably had a more colourful life than his elder brother, in truth, just kept it a little quieter and on the right side of marriage.

He was a diplomat in Italy for 25 years, and saved the day when his elder brother faced bankruptcy and was forced to auction off most of his possessions.

William received hurried letters from his elder brother, telling him to ‘acquire the family portraits,’ and some of the furniture ‘not the showy stuff’ and paintings, ‘especially the two Hacketts.’

William did purchase some of the furniture and saved most of the portraits and also leased Attingham to stop it passing out of the family.

Most interesting though is that when he returned from Italy he brought with him his own collection of furniture and treasures. Including white and gilded furniture from the Plazzo Belvedere, the home of Caroline Murat, Napoleon’s sister, as well as paintings and the ambassadorial silver, gold and french porcelain, which belonged to the Italian embassy in Naples, purchased to impress visitors the ambassador would have entertained.

Surely it should have remained in Italy for the next ambassador?

The National Trust has a theory for why William retained his ambassadorial gold and silver allowance, which was due to be returned on demand or if he left the post. They propose it may have been a deal to encourage him to resign and make way for a replacement, Lord Palmerston’s nephew.

Another question of course is how he obtained Caroline Murat’s furniture. Caroline was Queen of Naples through marriage, and when Napoleon was captured in 1815, Caroline and her husband were forced to flee Naples. It is unknown whether William acquired her possessions by fair means or foul.

Certainly he must have known Caroline, his role as ambassador in Naples was largely one of entertaining the great the and good, although he once stated that his diplomatic role largely concerned ‘losses of Bonnets and Gowns, cruel Custom House officers, or the want of Passports’.

The people he entertained included Byron, who was travelling through Italy to Greece. Byron described him as ‘the only one of the diplomatists whom I ever knew who really is Excellent.’

I think William knew how to throw a good party and be charming. He was known for his natural bon viveur.

Like his elder brother Thomas, William fell for a courtesan, in Italy, who bore him illegitimate (natural) children.

Unlike his elder brother, Thomas, William did not marry her, and never married. Although there is some indication he was briefly engaged to Lady Stanhope who was as sensational a character as Lord Byron.

I can only wonder at the intrigues that might have occurred in Naples.

Perhaps his own commitment to a mistress explains his understanding of Thomas’s wife, he allowed Sophia to retrieve some of her possessions after his brother’s death (see my previous blog for Thomas’s story).

When William died without legitimate issue in 1842, the estate passed to a third brother, a Rector, who never expected to inherit the title and had a far less colourful life, but a drinking habit, he was said to have ‘swallowed more wine than any other man in the country.’

Jane Lark is a writer of authentic, passionate and emotional love stories.

See the side bar for details of Jane’s books, and Jane’s website www.janelark.co.uk to learn more about Jane. Or click ‘like’ on Jane’s Facebook page to see photo’s and learn historical facts from the Georgian, Regency and Victorian eras, which Jane publishes there. You can also follow Jane on twitter at @janelark