A Royal Amour - 1882 Author:Richard Davey Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. MRS. STEWART MISBEHAVES HEKSELF. Frances Theresa Stewart being the daughter of Walter Stewart, of the Blantyre branch of the royal house, was ... more »third cousin of the King. She was, as we know, ideally lovely, and her person to this day is to be admired in the exquisite face and figure of Britannia on British coin. It was originally executed by Rotier, the medallist, to gratify the fair lady's vanity and please the King. There can be no doubt that at one time Charles II., notwithstanding his affection for his consort, did entertain the idea of divorcing Queen Catherine and replacing her by this young woman. The chief reason of this was the Queen's barrenness. There was no male heir to the throne, for James, Duke of York, had only two daughters, the Princesses Mary and Anne. " Lady " Stewart was of the blood royal, beautiful, accomplished, of respectable reputation, and a Protestant. No foreign. Princess would have accepted the role ofsecond Anne Boleyn, so his Majesty could only look at home for a successor to his present wife. But Lady Frances was good- hearted, and absolutely refused to countenance any disgraceful transaction, which should compromise the dignity and happiness of her royal mistress. She was, moreover, desperately in love with the Duke of Richmond, also a cousin of the King, and who was, moreover, very handsome and wealthy. She had of late, on several occasions, entreated his Majesty's consent to her marriage with this young peer, but each time was refused with considerable brutality. He would not hear of the alliance, and the mere mention of Richmond's name caused him to turn livid with rage. He even banished the gentleman from the court, and the news which the Duchess of Cleveland and Lady Muskerry were about to convey to him, when they saw Mabel l...« less