CAPTIVATED A KING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21698, 13 January 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

CAPTIVATED A KING

THE ORIGINAL " BRITANNIA " • LADY ON COINAGE FIGURE Memories of a maid of honour who captivated a king, and who sat for the original figure of Britannia on the coinage, are revived by Mr. Lawrence 10. Tanner, F.S.A., Keeper of the Muniments, Westminster Abbey. Tho lady was Frances Stuart, " La Belle Stuart," as she was called, a grand-daughter of tho first Lord Blantyre. She had been brought up in France, and it was only with great reluctance that Louis XIV. allowed her to tako up an appointment in the Court of Charles 11. of England. Mr. Tanner relates in Tho Times that it was not long before Charles 11.

was more nearly in love with her than ho ever was with anyone else in his life. To escape his attentions she eloped in 1667 with Charles Stuart, the last Duke of Richmond and Lennox of that line. " La Bolle Stuart" died in 1702, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. In accordance with her will her effigy in wax was modelled and was placed in Henry Vll.'s Chapel. This efligy has now beon cleaned, and through the wonderful skill of the authorities of tho Textile Department at the Victoria and Albert Musoum it is now possible to see again in much of its first freshness what was said at the time to be " the richest figure that ever was set up in King Henry's Chapel." By tho side of tho duchess has always been perched the stuffed parrot which " had lived with her grace for 40 years, and only survived her a few days." It is a West African grey parrot, and it has been skilfully cleaned by the authorities at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington. It is probnbly the oldest stuffed bird in England.