Anna Of Savoy, Born Giovanna (13061365) Was A Byzantine Empress Consort, As The Second Spouse Of Andronikos

Anna of Savoy, born Giovanna (1306–1365) was a Byzantine Empress consort, as the second spouse of Andronikos III Palaiologos. She served as regent during the minority of her son from 1341 until 1347.

Now it seems I must cease to call myself Queen. Even though I was crowned so, and anointed. They say if I refuse the King will withdraw his fatherly love for my daughter.

I shall not yield.

Costumes + The Tudors

Mary Tudor’s black cloak with white/creme fur and golden details in Season 03, Episode 05.

Jane, Countess of Harrington depicted as Aurora, Goddess of Dawn – to symbolise purity – in white silk dress with purple gauze scarf and red and white plumes in her hair. This painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds was completed when she was still Miss Fleming.

Jane Fleming was the eldest of five children of Sir John Fleming, 1st Baronet as well as the elder sister of Seymour Dorothy Fleming. She married May 23, 1779, Charles, third Earl of Harrington. The new Countess of Harrington was soon praised for generosity, as she immediately settled the debts her husband had inherited from her father-in-law and funded the re-purchase of Stable Yard House in St James’s. The money she brought into the marriage also enabled Lord Harrington to raise an infantry regiment, with which the couple departed for Jamaica in 1780. When they returned the next year, Lady Harrington became noted for her fashion sense and physical attractiveness; she and Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, were singled out as “the best dressed ladies” at an all-night party held by the Duchess in September 1782. 

Although she became a gambler like many of her class, Lady Harrington was “blessed with domestic happiness, a lovely progeny, and every endearment that can make life desirable.” Surrounded by aristocracy of generally loose morals, she was considered an epitome of virtue. A somewhat talented painter, Lady Harrington helped establish John Glover’s career as art instructor in the early 1790s, and may have taken lessons from him. In 1794, she became a lady of the Bedchamber to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, wife of King George III. Much favoured by Queen Charlotte, Lady Harrington served as lady of the Bedchamber until the Queen’s death in 1818. 

Lord and Lady Harrington maintained their popularity into their old age. “Their sempiternal occupation of tea-drinking” was noted by one of their contemporaries, who found that “neither in Nankin, Pekin, nor Canton was the teapot more assiduously and constantly replenished” than in their home. Lady Harrington predeceased her husband, dying at St James’s Palace on 3 February 1824. She was buried at Westminster Abbey on 12 February. Lord and Lady Harrington had ten children, who lived into adulthood.

Chapuys’  epistolary  prose  provides  the  thread  through  the  text.  It  is unclear if Mackay has translated these works afresh; the calendars are cited heavily among other, archival sources and original wording is not provided in the notes. The short introduction is limited to addressing the question of Chapuys’ accuracy as an eye-witness, recognizing his biases but rightly defending his importance as a source for the period. The work could certainly have benefitted from a conclusion separate from the last chapter, positioning Chapuys in the wider context of his time, among his fellow ambassadors. This would have made a stronger, analytical argument for his significance and value, beyond repeated assertions about the colour and life that his letters breathe into the court.

Inside the Tudor Court: Henry VIII and his Six Wives through the Writings of the Spanish Ambassador Eustace Chapuys, by Mackay, Lauren (review). Susan Broomhall.    

the tudors ladies (& bb!elizabeth) + hats