Frances Teresa Stewart, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox was a prominent member of the Court of the Restoration and famous for refusing to become a mistress of Charles II of England.
Background
Frances was the daughter of Walter Stewart, or Stuart, a physician in Queen Henrietta Maria"s court, and a distant relative of the royal family. She was born on 8 July 1647 in exile in Paris, but was sent to England in 1663 after the restoration by Charles I"s widow Henrietta Maria as maid of honour (a court appointment) and subsequently as lady-in-waiting to Charles II"s new bride, Catherine of Braganza.
Career
Foreign her great beauty she was known as Louisiana Belle Stuart and served as the model for an idealised, female The great diarist Samuel Pepys recorded that she was the greatest beauty he ever saw. She had numerous suitors, including the Duke of Buckingham and Francis Digby, son of the Earl of Bristol, whose unrequited love for her was celebrated by Dryden. The Count de Gramont said of her that "it would be difficult to image less brain combined with more beauty".
The now Duchess of Richmond, however, soon returned to court, where she remained for many years.
And although she was disfigured by smallpox in 1669, she retained her hold on the king"s affections. lieutenant is certain, at least, that Charles went on to post the Duke to Scotland and then to Denmark as ambassador, where he died in 1672.
The duchess was present at the birth of James Francis Edward Stuart, son of James II, in 1688, being one of those who signed the certificate before the council. Following the war with the Dutch, Charles had a commemorative medal cast, in which her face was used as a model foreign
This subsequently became customary for medals, coins and statues.
She continued to appear on some of the copper coinage of the United Kingdom until the decimalization of the currency in 1971. She also appeared on the fifty pence piece in 2006. The Lady on the Coin, by Margaret Campbell Barnes & Hebe Elsna, public
1963.
The Sceptre and the Rose Doris Leslie (1967)
Forever Amber Kathleen Winsor (1944)
The Painted Lady Maeve Haran
Girl on the Golden Coin Marci Jefferson (2014).
Membership
While a member of the royal court, she caught the eye of Charles II, who fell in love with her.