The extent of Frances and Louis XIV’s relationship is also unknown, but Henriette Anne was jealous by nature and would have resented it. Derek Wilson explains in All the King’s Women how Louis XIV may have used Henriette Anne and Louise de Kéroüaille as liaisons to Charles II, so it is not unreasonable to hypothesize that Louis XIV attempted the same with Frances. The French ambassadors’ correspondence with Louis XIV indicates they found a friend in Frances.
When some historians assert that Frances did not capitulate to Charles II, they are accepting her third-hand account recorded by Pepys, in which she admitted she didn’t want the world to think her a “bad woman.” But Pepys also reported that Frances did “everything with the King that a mistress should do,” and that she was likely pregnant by Charles II. This and the Duke of Richmond’s early announcement of Frances’s pregnancy soon after their nuptials convinced me to write the story as I did.
Charles II’s attempt to divorce Queen Catherine with Archbishop Sheldon’s help is further evidence that Frances might have been carrying his child. Why would Charles II, known for fathering over a dozen bastards, bother about this one? Because Frances may have been the only woman Charles II truly loved. Biographer Allen Andrews referred to her as Charles II’s “fixed star by which to orientate himself” and says, “her rejection was cataclysmic on Charles’ emotions.”
A letter from the mother of the maids, published by Hartmann, implicates Cornbury and Clarendon in Frances’s elopement. Many believe Frances eloped because she loved the Duke of Richmond, based on affectionate letters she wrote to him. Although written in the stylized romanticism of the day, the letters do seem to contain genuine tenderness. However, all of the letters were written after the marriage, mostly during their lonely banishment from court.
When James II was still Duke of York, Pepys recorded James’s affections for Frances. But I consider her failure to follow kin and king into exile to be her true rejection of James II. Her letters to Lord Blantyre reveal her respect for those with a “tenderness of conscience.” Her beliefs conflicted with James II’s, and I suspect she stood her ground by staying in England.
CLOSING
Frances’s sister, the younger Sophia, did follow James II into exile because her husband was his master of the household. She and her daughters lived in France as exiled Jacobites. Frances’s niece Anne married James II’s illegitimate son, the Duke of Berwick, and provided a home for her sisters.
Anthony Hamilton was intimate with the Berwick household when he wrote Gramont’s humorous and often inaccurate memoirs. Why would Frances’s family have allowed Hamilton to portray her as an innocent featherbrain? They would have wished to avoid scrutiny in the pious atmosphere of the exiled court, to conceal their matriarch’s illegitimacy, to minimize Frances’s involvement in Louis XIV’s affair with Henriette Anne, to hide Frances’s failure to stop England’s war against the Dutch, to detract from the likelihood that Frances was carrying Charles II’s child when she eloped with the Duke of Richmond, and to downplay Frances’s hand in the fall of Chancellor Clarendon.
I believe her family understood and wished to preserve the purity of Frances’s spirit. She positively influenced one of England’s most important kings, and her sacrifice prevented a political calamity: the divorce of a Catholic queen.
La Belle Stuart lived to attend Queen Anne’s coronation, her charm and grace inspiring poets to her final days. Events of her era had thrown the divine right of kings into question, and there emerged a sense of aspiration among the English, a budding desire for civil rights and self-governance. Frances Stuart, who rejected kings, is a symbol of her time. She was also the symbol of her nation on its currency, and the most natural and compelling figure for a novel of Restoration England.
For sources and more information, visit Marci Jefferson’s Web site at www.MarciJefferson.com
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This novel wouldn’t have progressed past page one without the vital support of my prince, Kevin; the lights of my life, Dalton and Delani; my mother and assistant, Deborah Pinckney; and the Jeffersons. I am ever grateful to my agent, Kevan Lyon, who believed in this story before it was finished; to my editor, Toni Kirkpatrick, at Thomas Dunne Books; to my publicist, Katie Bassel; to critique partners, who taught me so much in the beginning, Lisa Wells, Barbara Bettis, Jennifer Jakes, and especially my dear Sara Ann Denson; to local authors Shirley Jump, Julie Sellers, Karen Lynfestey, and Diana Welker; to faithful beta readers Chris Irons, Molly Shoup, and Jill Sloffer who doubles as my gifted photographer; to the numerous professionals within the Historical Novel Society, especially Michelle Moran, Kate Quinn, and Sophie Perinot; to the wise Allison; for the camaraderie of “superwriters” DeAnn Smith, Lisa Janice Cohen, Julianne Douglas, Amanda Orr, Candie Campbell, Janet Butler Taylor, Arabella Stokes, and especially Heather Webb and Susan Spann; to those who inspire and strive for excellence at the Allergy and Asthma Center; to art historian Madeline Archer, may we someday find that Raphael; to the Allen County Public Library system for delivering cartloads of books over the years, especially librarians Donna Rondot and Nancy Saff for finding historical records; to Marjorie L’Esperance and Margriet Lambour for Dutch correspondence; to archivists Alex Richie of the UK National Archives and Rachael Krier of the Lancashire Record Office for help with historical manuscripts; and I must also acknowledge the late Cyril Hughes Hartmann, whose biography La Belle Stuart provided the starting point for much of my additional research.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marci Jefferson grew up in an Air Force family and has lived in numerous places, including North Carolina, Georgia, and the Philippines. Her passion for history was sparked while living in Yorktown, Virginia, where locals still share Revolutionary War tales. Jefferson graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medical College as a Registered Nurse. She lives in Indiana with her husband and children. This is her first novel. Visit her Web site at www.MarciJefferson.com.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.
An imprint of St. Martin’s Press.
GIRL ON THE GOLDEN COIN. Copyright © 2014 by Marci Jefferson. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.thomasdunnebooks.com
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by Kerry Resnick
Cover painting of Frances Stuart
© 2011 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II /
The Bridgeman Art Library
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Jefferson, Marci.
Girl on the golden coin: a novel of Frances Stuart / Marci Jefferson.—First edition.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-250-03722-0 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-03721-3 (e-book)
1. Richmond and Lennox, Frances Teresa Stuart, Duchess of, 1648–1702—Fiction. 2. Louis XIV, King of France, 1638–1715—Fiction. 3. Charles II, King of England, 1630–1685—Fiction. 4. Courts and courtiers—Fiction. 5. France—Kings and rulers—Fiction. 6. Great Britain—Kings and rulers—Fiction. 7. Great Britain—History—Restoration, 1660–1688—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3610.E3655G57 2014
813'.6—dc23
2013030272
eISBN 9781250037213
First Edition: February 2014
e
Girl on the Golden Coin: A Novel of Frances Stuart Page 31