One house. Two women. Both determined to endure.
July 1818. Dorothea Jordan – celebrated actress and long-time companion of the Duke of Clarence – has returned. Not in flesh, but in spirit. For fifteen years Bushy House was her sanctuary, filled with
laughter and her ten children – the FitzClarences. Now she watches as her portraits are taken down and her daughters sent away, in preparation for the duke’s new bride.
Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen arrives in England with duty pressing upon her shoulders. At twenty-five, she has accepted a proposal no other princess would take. She must tame the duke’s
debts, win over his unruly children and – above all – produce an heir to secure the British throne.
But Adelaide soon senses a presence in Bushy House.
As she struggles to find her place in a household shaped by another woman’s love, the restless spiritof Mrs Jordan lingers – watchful, wounded and unwilling to be forgotten.
Inspired by the true story of Queen Adelaide and the actress Dorothea Jordan, The Queen of Bushy House explores grief and ambition, motherhood and legacy – and the enduring power of a love that
refuses to fade.
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Originally from Michigan, Molly Gartland has lived overseas since 1994, including six years in Moscow and stints in Cairo, Cape Town and Dakar. A boomerang Brit whose ancestors arrived in America on the Mayflower, she now lives in south-west London.
A lifelong lover of books, theatre, art and urban wildlife, she is also a devoted supporter of Brentford FC and can often be found wandering through Bushy Park.
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Win a signed copy of The Queen of Bushy House (Open to UK Only)
My thoughts: I used to go to Bushy Park quite regularly, my grandparents lived not far from there and when you used to be ale to drive through the middle of the park itself, we would, so we could see the deer that live there. My cousins lived down the road and we would be taken to play in the large playground in the park. I have many fond memories of it.
I also grew up in the shadow of Dowager Queen Adelaide’s last home – Bentley Priory. Owned by the RAF, the house was closed to the public for many years. It is now a museum devoted to the years it was the home of Bomber Command and played a vital role in WW2. There is however one room that has been preserved in Adelaide’s memory. Her letters to and from her adored niece Queen Victoria are displayed there, as is the sofa where she would have received the Queen and Prince Albert on their visits. It is rather special.
Queen Adelaide and her husband William IV are often forgotten, wedged briefly as they are between the last George and the one and only Victoria. William is unusual as he inherited from his brother and his heir was his niece. He wasn’t king for very long and I don’t think he troubles the history lessons of British children much. Victoria’s reign having been both longer and more impressive.
But Adelaide has always fascinated me, and this book is a lovely tribute to an oft-forgotten queen. German, like so many of the Royals of the time, her marriage wasn’t always happy and none of her children lived to adulthood. She also had to find room in her life for William’s many illegitimate offspring – the FitzClarences. His long relationship with the actress Dorothea Jordan cast a shadow over his marriage I’m sure.
Here, Mrs Jordan is a friendly spectre, visible to her successor and a willing storyteller, letting Adelaide into the life she lived as mistress to William, Duke of Clarence and their eight children. The family lived at Bushy House (now a research facility and closed to the public) in the shadow of Hampton Court Palace, a beautiful spot.
Their life together was not easy, Mrs Jordan was not invited to any Royal events, could not accompany William publicly and money was often tight as he spent beyond his means (common with the many children of George III) and she would return to the theatre to make money to feed and clothe the children.
As Adelaide and Mrs Jordan the ghost bond, and their lives intertwine, the prince’s children their connection, we see the tragedies and pain Adelaide lived with, as well as some of the high points of her life. Her love for her husband’s children and those of her sister is warm and celebrated. She was Queen Victoria’s favourite aunt and seems to have been a kind and good woman.
The book brings the two women in King William’s life vividly to the fore, forgotten often by history but not completely erased from the places they loved. I love the fact that the sculpture of Mrs Jordan stands in Buckingham Palace, a place she would never have been welcome in life, and her portrait hangs not far from Adelaide’s. Connected in death as they never were in life. A lovely read.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of the book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
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