The first (and only) Duchess of Portsmouth

It was the year 1670. France had just about reached the height of its glory under Louis XIV and was the leading light in the social life of Europe. The only thing missing was a peace treaty with England. So Louis sent an ambassador to the court of Charles II to negotiate a treaty - Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans and sister of the English King. The Duchess took Louise-Renée de Kéroualle, a Maid of Honour, with her. This meeting not only resulted in the Treaty of Dover, which was signed on 22nd. May 1670, but also in the infatuation of Charles with Louise. Charles wanted Louise to remain in England, but his sister insisted on taking her back to France. But Henrietta died suddenly only a few weeks later and Louis XIV at once sent Louise back to England. Charles sent a royal yacht to bring her from Calais to England, and it wasn't long before Louise was sharing the royal bed on a regular basis. This was a great benefit to her, as it enabled her to carry on with the real task she had been given by Louis - that of passing any interesting information that she could gather back to her French master. Louise-Renée de Kéroualle was a spy.

However, it is quite likely that Charles and his advisors were well aware of her real purpose in coming to England. This meant, of course, that they could easily pass on to France information whose truth was in doubt - always a useful ploy. Either way, she became a favourite of Charles, which no doubt upset the orange seller Nell Gwynne (real name Eleanor Gwyn), whose feisty manner was the direct antithesis of the glamorous Louise. How Charles managed to keep two mistresses of such opposite temperaments at the same time is a mystery. Maybe it just appealed to his sense of humour, and it is said that he enjoyed listening to the verbal exchanges between his two paramours. The elegant Louise would often berate Charles for continuing his relationship with the 'orange wench', but her words had no effect. And Nell could certainly hold her own in these verbal exchanges. No doubt she had plenty of training in such things in her earlier years, as her mother had kept a 'bawdy house', a cross between a pub and a brothel, in Covent garden.

The one thing that detracted from Renée's looks was a slight cast in one eye. Nell was quick to catch on to this, and often referred to the French woman as 'Squinterella'. And whenever she felt that Charles was not favouring her as she thought he should, Louise would shed copious tears in an effort to win him over. This, too, did not escape Nell's attention, who, in such instances, would refer to her as 'The Weeping Willow'. Charles found these references highly amusing, which upset Louise quite a bit. But she did have one advantage over Nell. She was an aristocrat. And following the birth of her son Charles Lennox, the father being Charles of course, the king bestowed on her the title 'Duchess of Pendennis', which was quickly changed to 'Duchess of Portsmouth'. This was definitely one up on Nell. Later on further titles were added - Countess of Petersfield and Baroness Fareham. She was even granted an annual pension of £40,000. I hate to think what that would be worth today. Not that Charles paid it himself. It had to come from the state exchequer.

Louise was never very popular with the commoners. She was French and she was a Catholic, reason enough for the public to hate her. And those courtiers close to the king were convinced that she was trying to get the king to convert to Catholicism. Even when Charles stated that he had no intention of doing any such thing, the people were not convinced, and they hated Louise even more, so that she would not venture out without a heavy escort, a fact which Nell found very amusing. Louise managed to get her own way, even if she did have to cheat to do it. When the king was lying on his death-bed, Louise sent a message to Queen Henrietta Maria saying that the king's health was improving. Since the queen wasn't feeling too good either she decided to keep herself to her rooms. Louise seized the opportunity, and persuaded his brother James to dismiss the Protestant bishops who were attending the king. Once they were safely out of the way she sent for a Catholic priest, who came in up a back staircase. Once in the king's bedchamber he proceeded to administer the Last Sacrament, so that Charles II was received into the Catholic church only hours before he died. It is almost certain that James, who now became king, was in collusion with Louise, for he made little attempt to hide his own Catholic sympathies, which was to play a major role in his eventual downfall. Soon afterwards Charles died, the new king went to visit Louise to assure her of his protection and friendship. Nevertheless, she decided to return to France, but then a year later returned to England where she stayed until July 1688, when James II lost his crown. As a result Louise lost her English pension. She quickly realised that she had no one to stand up for her, and that England was definitely not the ideal retirement home, so she quickly made her way over the channel to France, where Louis decided to award her a pension.

From 1692 onwards Louise devoted herself to the care of her estate of Aubigny. (She had been created Duchess d'Aubigny by Louis XIV in January 1684.) However, her love of gambling brought her financial difficulties to the point that Louis had to intervene for her in 1699. As a result her French pension was increased to 600,000 livres "in consideration of the great services she had rendered France". In 1715 she again visited England in the hope that she would get an annuity from King George I. She failed.

Louise-Renée de Kéroualle, Duchess d'Aubigny, Duchess of Portsmouth, Countess of Petersfield and Baroness Fareham eventually died in Paris, on 14th. November 1734, the day on which her rival, Nell Gwynne, had died 47 years earlier. Now there's a coincidence.

Bill Hutchings