King’s Mistress, Queen’s Servant

by Tracy Borman

First published 2007

Amazon

4.2(183)

Henrietta Howard escapes a violent and financially ruinous marriage by entering the household of the future George II and Caroline of Ansbach. She becomes the prince’s long-term mistress while remaining one of Caroline’s servants, a position requiring discretion and careful negotiation of a court in which personal relationships carry political consequences.

Tracy Borman follows Henrietta beyond the conventional role of royal mistress. She formed friendships with writers including Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift, secured property of her own and gradually created a degree of financial independence unusual for a woman in her circumstances. Her life connects domestic abuse, female employment, literary patronage and Hanoverian court politics. The biography presents her not simply as a figure in George II’s private life but as a woman who used intelligence, social networks and persistence to construct an identity beyond the royal household.