Charles II
After the death of Savoy, Hortense had no source of income; her husband froze all of her income, including the pension from Louis XIV.
The English ambassador to France, Ralph Montagu, aware of Hortense's desperate situation, enlisted her help in increasing his own standing with Charles II. He hoped she would replace the king's current mistress, Louise de Kerouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth. Hortense was willing to try. In 1675, she travelled to London under the pretext of a visit to her young cousin, Mary of Modena, the new wife of Charles II's younger brother, James, Duke of York. She was dressed as a man; her penchant for cross-dressing is thought to be an outward expression of her bisexuality.
Read more about this topic: Hortense Mancini
Famous quotes containing the word charles:
“I have seen in this revolution a circular motion of the sovereign power through two usurpers, father and son, to the late King to this his son. For ... it moved from King Charles I to the Long Parliament; from thence to the Rump; from the Rump to Oliver Cromwell; and then back again from Richard Cromwell to the Rump; then to the Long Parliament; and thence to King Charles, where long may it remain.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)