Hortense's Story

Hortene's story has fascinated history ans and biographers for centuries. She also began a relationship, most likely sexual, but certainly romantic, with charles's illegitimate daughter anne. The two women took fencing lessons together, hence the whimsical practice in the park. All of which brings us to the final reason that people were staring at the countess of sussex and the duchess mazarin fencing in saint james's park. They were wearing only their under garments. It always struck me as a shame that the vast majority of interesting women who led lives that were written about in the early modern era also happened to be unusually attractive. For centuries, the path to power