She’s had a busy, exhausting day after a busy, exhausting week, and apologizes for missing her Riskies post. She’ll be back next Friday.
Let’s give her our sympathies. We’ve all been there, right?
Have you ever held a yard sale in order to fund a home repair project? Well, that’s precisely what Earl Spencer, brother of Princess Diana, did when he needed ten million pounds to repair the roof at Althorp and fund other home repair projects. Rather than use his driveway and front yard, Earl Spencer used the famous Christies auction house to auction off paintings, furniture, carriages, livery, uniforms, walking sticks, canes, snuff boxes, spoons, linens, porcelain, inkstands, and more.
See all the items here.
Read more about it here.
Too bad the auction is over, because I would have selected these items for myself:
I’m partial to prints and artwork and would not have been able to resist a miniature of Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire (1757-1806). Georgiana died before the Regency, but she was a super star of her day, a fashion icon and a political hostess as well as a lady who personified some of the excesses of the Georgian era.
This is Lady Anne Horatia Seymour, wife of Lord Hugh Seymour, one of the Prince Regent’s set, and good friend of Mrs. Fitzherbert. Isn’t she pretty?
This fellow is Colonel Sir Horace Beauchamp Seymour, son of Lady Anne Horatia Seymour. Doesn’t he just look like the perfect Regency gentleman? Look at that hair!
I also love antique porcelain and I thought these Chinese Famille Rose plates (1736-95) were particularly beautiful.
I also could not resist this lovely piece of furniture which the auction house called a “Louis XVI Giltwood Canape.”
There were so many treasures at the auction that it would have been hard to limit myself. As it was, I “spent” about ten thousand pounds. And I noticed that most of what I coveted was Georgian, not Regency. I suppose my Regency world is furnished with Georgian decor.
Did you ever buy a treasure at an auction or a yard sale? When I was at college I bought a desk and a vacuum cleaner worth every bit of the ten dollars I spent!
Which of Earl Spencer’s treasures would you have purchased?
Come visit me on Thursday for Diane’s Blog and next Sunday here at Risky Regencies when my friend Mary Blayney will talk about her latest, Courtesan’s Kiss.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Preamble of the Declaration of Independence.
Yesterday Americans celebrated the 234th anniversary of the approval of the wording of the Declaration of Independence (not its signing as is commonly believed). We celebrate this as the beginning of our country, although there were many years of hard fighting to go before the United States of America existed as separate from mother England.
In spite of our problems as a country, it is extraordinary that we have been as successful as we have been at living up to these principles of all “men created equal” with equal right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And I’m filled with pride at how well we have done, though it has taken 234 years to get this far and we still have a way to go. Discrimination is still practiced, I’m sad to say.
But today for Risky Regencies, I’m thinking about what it must have felt like to those “colonists” who considered themselves Englishmen and suddenly found themselves forming a separate nation. They could not have known that this country would succeed. How much trust could they put in this fledgling government? It must have been a very exciting but hard time for all.
During the Regency, in addition to the Napoleonic War, England fought in America again, in what we call The War of 1812. This time the United States of America declared war on England for impressing American citizens into the Royal Navy and for England’s military support of Native Americans who were preventing American expansion into the Northwest. Ironically it was this war that really solidified America’s independence from England. After America’s victory, England respected America’s sovereignty.
A few years ago I attended the annual Battle of Bladensburg (of the War of 1812) reenactment at Jefferson Patterson Park in Maryland with Mary Blayney (see her interview here July 18) and I took a photo of this authentic British reenactor!
I wonder how many people in the US still had split loyalties. Were they all solidly American, as we would like to believe? Or did some of them hope the War of 1812 would put this country again under English rule? One also wonders what would have happened if Wellington had been sent to the US instead of Spain.
Another question. Why aren’t more Regency Historicals using the War of 1812 in their stories?
Visit my website today for a sneak peek of Chivalrous Captain, Rebel Lady and for a new contest. And come back again on Thursday for Diane’s Blog.
We all have favorite websites and blogs, those places we go to be entertained or to learn things. Here are five of mine, all dealing with the Regency, at least sometimes. It is not an exhaustive list, but five sites I return to fairly often, either because I need them or because they entertain me.
So off the top of my head, 5 websites or blogs I like:
The Georgian Index – so much information here. One of the things I love about this site is I can always find some shop to insert in my books, but there’s so much more here. Here’s an example:
House of Millard/ Millard’s warehouse/draper – No.16 Cheapside – Bengal Muslins, flannels – advertised in La belle Asemblee 1812-3 – (locale) City
– I can have my heroine walk into a draper shop that really existed!
Number One London – this is Kristine Hughes and Victoria Hinshaw’s blog and they never cease to amaze me with the information they provide. And it’s always fun, too. Here’s Kristine’s first report from the Battle of Waterloo reenactment.
Regency Ramble – This treasure is the creation of my fellow Harlequin Historical author, Ann Lethbridge, aka Michelle Ann Young. Ann hails from the UK and she does something I love! She tells us about the flora and fauna of the Regency period, among other things Regency, including fashion prints. Here is her latest. Have you ever heard of a bustard?
Cogitations and Meditations – This is our friend Keira Soleore’s blog and by some magic I cannot perform on my own, Keira made it so I receive her blog in my email, so I never miss a thing. Keira has a miriad of things on her blog, very intelligent things oftentimes. Or very exotic, like this latest Picture Day Friday. Not always Regency, but always interesting.
Wikipedia – I know I know I know. You can’t trust Wikipedia because not all the information is cross-referenced and thus it is susceptible to being false, but, gee, there’s nothing like it to quickly find that elusive fact that probably is not false. I’ve used Wikipedia extensively to find out stuff like Like – When did Queen Charlotte die? (Nov 17, 1818) because I know it happens right in the time period I might be writing about. Or, I recently needed to know something about carriages. I started by looking at Wikipedia. (gig). My Three Soldiers Series required knowing details of the Battle of Waterloo. Wikipedia had great information on the battle and, from my other reading of the subject, it looked accurate.
What are your favorite blogs and websites? Besides Risky Regencies, I mean!
Visit me Thursday on Diane’s Blog where I will show off the bookcover of Chivalrous Captain, Rebel Lady AND give away two prizes – a signed copy of Gallant Officer, Forbidden Lady and the entire set of Amanda’s Muse Trilogy!
A week ago, I told you what Wellington and Napoleon were doing on that date 195 years ago. Today 195 years ago, a young Nathan Rothschild, who had been instrumental in providing and delivering gold to pay for the war, stood by a pillar in the Stock Exchange. His efficient network of communication had delivered to him news of the Allied Victory at Waterloo. Legend has it that he deliberately gave the impression that Wellington had lost the battle, by looking gloomy and selling Consols (bonds) precipitating a panic of selling. Then he supposedly bought up the Consols at a depressed price, knowing their value would soar when Wellington’s courier finally reached London. If I’m remembering correctly, Heyer used this version of events in A Civil Contract.
But the truth of Rothschild’s involvement was somewhat different, as you can see in this YouTube video:
The Rothschilds assumed, as did everyone else, that England and its allies were facing a protracted war once again. Nathan Rothschild had bought up gold to provide to Wellington to pay for the war effort, but after the surprising decisive victory, the price of gold would plummet and Rothschild would suffer a great loss. Instead he gambled on the rise of the bond market. He bought up bonds and sold them two years later at a whopping 40 per cent profit. So he did make money, but he’d taken a great risk and had not exploited the country. His provision of gold, after all, financed the war effort. Of course he made a profit from that, too, originally.
Wellington’s dispatch arrived forty hours later than Rothschild’s. Here’s an account from The Telegraph’s review of Peter Hofschröer’s book, Wellington’s Smallest Victory:
News of the Battle of Waterloo was rushed to London by Harry Percy, Wellington’s only surviving unwounded ADC. He carried the despatch in a velvet handkerchief sachet an admirer had thrust into his hand as he hurried from the Duchess of Richmond’s famous Brussels ball on the eve of battle. He had no sleep that night, nor the five nights following, and had to row himself ashore from the middle of the Channel. His scarlet and gold tunic was still torn, dirty and blood-stained when he burst into a St James’s ballroom, a captured French standard in each hand, and dropped to one knee before the Prince Regent. It was Shakespearean.
Think of how instantaneously information reaches us today!
I really do hate to think about investments and bonds and profiteering now or in the Regency, although I think the sending of information so quickly, like Rothschild arranged, would make for an interesting episode in a book. That would be exciting!
I’m not sure I’d find banking in the Regency the stuff of Romance. Would you?
Come join the conversation on Diane’s blog on Thursday when Mary Blayney and I talk about the Regency and her new release (as of tomorrow, June 22) Courtesan’s Kiss. Mary will be our guest here at Risky Regencies on July 18.
