Rose (Flower Trilogy) (43 page)

In opposition to Nell’s popularity, Louise de Kéroualle was universally disliked. Born in 1649 in France, Louise first came to England in 1670 as a maid of honor to Charles’s sister, Henrietta. Charles’s interest was apparent, and when Henrietta died later that year, Louise returned to London and was established as the King’s mistress, receiving Louis XIV’s congratulations on her success. After giving birth in 1672 to another of Charles’s sons named Charles, later the Duke of Richmond, she was created the Duchess of Portsmouth. Though Louise’s unpopularity was due mostly to her being French and Catholic, she was also known to be wildly extravagant with the King’s money. Her apartments at Whitehall were rebuilt three times, and John Evelyn said they had “ten times the richness and glory beyond the Queen’s.”

Hortense Mancini, the Duchess Mazarin, was one of five Italian sisters all noted for their great beauty. Two of them became mistress to Louis XIV. Born in Rome in 1646, Hortense moved to France at an early age. Charles proposed to her while there, but her uncle, Cardinal Mazarin, did not think the exiled king’s prospects were good. She later married and then left her husband, arriving at Charles’s Court in 1675 and becoming his mistress shortly thereafter. Considered an “adventuress,” she was known for her compulsive gambling, her great skill with guns and swords, and her inclination to wear men’s clothing.

Christopher Wren, of course, actually lived, too. Best known for rebuilding London’s churches and St. Paul’s Cathedral after the Great Fire, he also designed the Royal Observatory and the Royal Hospital at Chelsea. In 1669, Charles II appointed him Surveyor General of the King’s Works, making him responsible for supervising all work on the royal palaces. He was knighted in 1673.

Besides churches, palaces, and other famous buildings, Wren also built a house beside the Thames in Windsor—the house I used as Kit’s house in this book. Built as his family home in 1676, the house is now known as Sir Christopher Wren’s House Hotel. If you’re lucky enough to visit, ask to view the original Oak Room (Kit’s dining room), and see if you find it as impressive as Rose did. Wren’s original paneled master bedroom can be booked for an overnight stay.

To find the hotel from the castle, just walk down the hill to the river, as Kit and Rose did in the story.

Many other settings in
Rose
were also real places you can visit, and although Kit, of course, is a fictional character, all the projects he worked on in the book were actually built by different men for Charles II.

Thomas Wolsey, Cardinal and Lord Chancellor of England, began building Hampton Court Palace in 1514. The best surviving part of Wolsey’s palace is Base Court with its forty guest lodgings. By 1528, Wolsey had fallen from favor and was forced to relinquish Hampton Court to Henry VIII, who, within six months, began remodeling the palace to suit himself. Henry’s personal lodgings have since been demolished, but you can still see his kitchens, his Great Hall, and his astronomical clock in Clock Court.

The later Tudors changed very little of the palace, as did the early Stuarts and Oliver Cromwell, so the next king to make a major mark on Hampton Court was Charles II.

Among other projects, Charles completely redesigned the gardens and also commissioned a set of apartments for his mistress Barbara, the Duchess of Cleveland. This new building, which I show Kit building in
Rose,
is said to have looked completely different from the Tudor gothic architecture of Henry VIII’s day.

In 1689, soon after William and Mary took the throne, they followed Charles’s architectural lead and asked Christopher Wren to rebuild Hampton Court Palace in a more modern style, to compare with the likes of Versailles and the Louvre. The old Tudor buildings around Cloister Green Court were demolished and replaced by Wren’s elegant Fountain Court. The Duchess of Cleveland’s lodgings by the Privy Garden were destroyed at this time as well, and little is known of them now, as no building plans survived.

As for Hampton Court’s maze, the one you can visit there now was built in 1690 for William III, but it possibly replaced an earlier maze, perhaps laid out for Henry VIII.

In an inventory of Cromwell’s goods at Hampton Court dated 1659, there is mention of a cistern that serves “the fountaine and Maze.” Since Charles II was restored to his throne the following year, perhaps the maze still survived at the time of Kit and Rose’s story. In any case, I had fun imagining them exploring it!

Hampton Court Palace is open to the public seven days a week year-round. Just outside London, it’s a perfect day trip back in time for anyone visiting the capital.

The remodeled east end of the Royal Chapel at Whitehall Palace in London was indeed designed by Christopher Wren—the sketch he made that Kit showed Rose still survives. The actual work was carried out by Thomas Kinward, Robert Streater, and Henry Phillips, for a total cost of a little more than £71. The fire in
Rose
was entirely my invention, but would surely have raised the price of construction.

Sadly, Whitehall Palace was destroyed by fire in 1698.

Although a few walls and other original bits of the palace survive as parts of the current government buildings, the only intact part of Whitehall today is Inigo Jones’s exquisite Banqueting House. Completed in 1622 and renowned for its architecture and magnificent ceiling painted by Sir Peter Paul Rubens, the building is also famous for being the scene of Charles I’s execution.

In Charles II’s time, the Banqueting House was used as the ceremonial chamber of the Court and the scene of grand receptions. Of the Queen’s birthday celebration on the 15th of November in 1677, which Rose and Kit attend in the final chapter of their story, John Evelyn noted in his diary:

“The Queene’s birthday, a greate Ball at Court, where the Prince of Orange and his new Princesse daunced.”

The Banqueting House is open to the public Monday through Saturday except for bank holidays, but also closes at short notice for government functions. This happened the first time I tried to visit, so do call ahead!

Of all the projects I had Kit working on in this book, the only one that can be seen today is the King’s Dining Room at Windsor Castle. Architect Hugh May carried out extensive renovations for King Charles between 1675 and 1678, and I chose this particular room for Kit not only because it was actually completed in the year of my story, 1677, but also because it is the most intact example remaining of Charles’s rooms, including the original wall carvings by Grinling Gibbons and Henry Phillips and the ceiling painted by Antonio Verrio.

Windsor Castle is the largest and oldest occupied castle in the world. It has stood for over nine hundred years since William the Conqueror chose the site a day’s march from the Tower of London. The castle has been inhabited continuously and altered by each sovereign. Some concentrated on strengthening the site against attack, while others, living in more peaceful times, helped create the palatial royal residence you can visit today.

Windsor Castle is open seven days a week year-round, but there are periods, especially in June and December, when the Queen is in residence and the State Apartments are closed.

Trentingham Manor was inspired by the Vyne, a National Trust property in Hampshire. Built in the early sixteenth century for Lord Sandys, Henry VIII’s Lord Chamberlain, the house acquired a classical portico in the mid-seventeenth century and contains a grand Palladian staircase, a wealth of old paneling and fine furniture, and a fascinating Tudor chapel with Renaissance glass. The Vyne and its extensive gardens are open for visits April through October.

If you’d like to see pictures and learn more about the people and places in
Rose,
please visit my Web site at www.LaurenRoyal.com, where you can also enter a contest, register to receive my newsletter, and find recipes for some of the seventeenth-century dishes Rose and Kit enjoyed in this book. My favorite is the artichoke pudding that Ellen liked so much at the Ashcrofts’ London town house, but if you try the recipes, I hope you’ll write to tell me which one
you
enjoy most.

If you missed Violet and Ford’s story, or Lily and Rand’s, you can find them in
Violet
and
Lily,
the first two books in my
Flower
trilogy.

I adore hearing from readers, so I hope you’ll send me an e-mail at [email protected] or a “real” letter at P.O. Box 52932, Irvine, CA 92619. Please enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope, especially if you’d like a free autographed bookmark and/or bookplate.

’Til next time,

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Rose
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Rose
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