gardens | Author, Jane Lark's stories

We went to Hampton Court last week. Viewing the different centuries of apartments there was fascinating and several stories came through of court life, but one I found particularly inspiring was the story of two sets of portraits, which were paintings of the Queen’s ladies in waiting. The first set was commissioned by King Charles II. These portraits are quite erotic for the era. Displayed in a long gallery, they include one of his mistresses. They were painted by Sir Peter Lely. I could only stand and wonder at the tales of intrigue behind these portraits.

Even more interesting though is that a generation later King William II’s wife, Queen Mary II, commissioned a similar set painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller, these were on display in the Dinning room, and knowing there are still, let me say, questions, hanging over King William II sexuality, it is quite thought-provoking that he dined amidst these pictures even after Queen Mary’s death.

This link takes you to the Wikipedia page which gives you details on the ladies in each portrait. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampton_Court_Beauties

Brilliant, I do love these delicious tales, sometimes real life is better than imagination. According to Wikipedia two of the Hampton Court Beauties were married to the bastard sons of King Charles II, and one had a secret marriage. The Windsor Beauty who was Kings Charles II’s mistress is Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland. She bore King Charles II five children as his mistress. There is also a beautiful tale about Elizabeth, Countess de Grammont, who had an agreement with a French Count who’d promised her marriage but then planned to leave England without her, her brother’s followed him and brought him back, she did leave with him after this.

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

We went to Belton House in Lincolnshire yesterday. It is a 17^th Century House with the usual tweaks made over later centuries. We did a below stairs tour while we were there.

The corridor, which I have taken a picture of, by the 19^th Century was used by both male and female servants. However women were to walk on one side and men on the other, a tradition which had passed down from earlier years when the men had a separate corridor on the right.

The rooms used by the male servants, overseen by the butler, were on the right. The rooms used by the women were on the left, overseen by the housekeeper.

In the butler’s areas were the wine cellar, the beer cellar, the silver store, the lamp and candle making spaces. While the housekeepers areas included the scullery, the kitchen, the linen cupboards, and the distillery where fruit cordials and preserves were made.

The servants did not dine together, the senior female servants – and visiting female servants – dined in the housekeeper’s room. The senior male servants – and visiting male servants – dined with the steward, who was responsible for overseeing the house and estate when the family were not in residence, and for managing it when they were.

There was a hierarchy among the servants as there was within the house. They sat at table in order of their status and the minor servants – grooms, scullery maids, etc – dined in a separate area completely.

The senior servants were even waited on, and had staff who cared for their clothes and rooms and served them. In Belton the steward had his own bell to call for service.

In the butler’s room there was also a cupboard containing a bed, where an under-butler would sleep at night in case one of the family woke and rang for service.

There is an entrance to the family chapel from below stairs. The Chapel was integrated into the house and used for morning service. The servants entrance to it opens into an area facing the altar, beneath the balcony where the family would have sat. The family would not have even seen the servants beneath them.

Below I have included some pictures of below stairs and in my next blog I will share some details and pictures of the house and a surprising fact about the chapel.

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

This slideshow requires JavaScript.