People
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Madame Clicquot, the Grand Dame of Champagne
This weekend sees the release of Widow Clicquot, a film celebrating the life and achievements of the Grande Dame of Champagne, who became the first female owner of a champagne house and an incredibly astute businesswoman. Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin was born in 1777 into a wealthy family, with a father who was also a businessman. He… read more
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The Tragic Story of the Wiltshire Heiress
We talk a lot about rich men during the Regency period, but what about the heiresses of the day? One of the richest heiresses in the early nineteenth century was Catherine Tylney-Long, heiress to Wanstead Park in Essex, as well as lands in Hampshire and Wiltshire, who actually had quite a tragic story. It did… read more
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Adapting Jane Austen | My Top 10 “Pride and Prejudice” Adaptations
It’s 207 years today since Jane Austen passed away, so, in her honour, it’s time to talk about the best adaptations of her work: specifically, my favourite of all her novels, Pride and Prejudice. I don’t want to ignite the Darcy debate, but I have to list some of my favourite – and some of… read more
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Attending a Ball in Regency England
If you could time travel to Regency England, what better way to spend a Saturday night than at a ball? (My dream, really!) If you were attending, you would arrive late in the evening: if you think we head out dancing late now, that has always been the case, with the earliest arrivals coming at… read more
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Did women actually use dance cards at Regency Balls?
I wanted to deep dive into a little bit of a mystery in period drama: you often see at balls in period drama women recording the names of their dance partners beside the name of each dance in a little card – a dance card – tied to their wrists with pieces of ribbons, with… read more
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Mini-Post | Queen Charlotte and Charlotte, North Carolina
I recently spent a day exploring Charlotte, North Carolina, which is called the Queen City in honour of its royal namesake: and here is a statue of the lady herself! Initially founded as a hamlet in 1768, it was named in honour of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen Consort to George III, with her birthplace (Mecklenburg)… read more
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Marie-Antoinette’s biggest fan: Empress Eugénie
Fewer women have captured cultural imagination like Marie-Antoinette. Her fascination endures today, and it did so almost immediately after her death in the French revolution. And one of her biggest fans, who sat at the helm of cult-like adoration for who they saw as a martyr queen, was Empress Eugénie. Empress Eugénie was born in… read more
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Mini-Post | Charles-Antoine Coypel
I am obsessed with the luxury of the fabrics, bows, ruffles and utter GLOW of this piece in the Met’s collection: to me, it is so romantic, enhanced by the use of pastels. This is a Coypel portrait of Marie Elisabeth de Séré de Rieux and her husband François de Jullienne. Julienne was a collector… read more
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What is a Cabinet of Curiosity?
One of my favourite things that I spotted in the second half of the third season of Bridgerton was the presence of cabinets of curiosity in Penelope and Colin’s sitting room. It seems the perfect set addition for our intrepid and intellectually engaged couple (I tried to find a still of the set, but couldn’t!):… read more
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Balloon flight in the early nineteenth century
One of the marvels in the first part of season 3 of Bridgerton is an innovation fair with, at its centre, a balloon. During this era, people were fascinated by flight and the skies, and balloon flight was still very new. The first recorded flight in Europe happened at Versailles on 19th September 1783, when… read more
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Dr. Lizzie Rogers 