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The Countess: The Scandalous Life of Frances Villiers, Countess of Jersey Paperback – August 1, 2019

by Tim Clarke (Author)

4.4 17 ratings

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One of the great beauties of Georgian society, Frances Villiers, Countess of Jersey, was a woman of enormous style and spirit whose life revolved around her pleasures. Clever and witty, her charm was legendary, earning her the nickname in the contemporary press of "The Enchantress." However, she was also unprincipled and malevolent. After providing her husband with an heir, she duly abandoned the dull respectability of married life for the whirl of the faster set of society and a number of high-profile and scandalous affairs. Through her relationship with the Prince Regent, she enraged the country and threatened the monarchy. Despite being demonized by historians, this is the first biography ever written of her extraordinary life. Tim Clarke skillfully pieces together the truth about the Countess of Jersey, and dispels many of the assumptions that continue to surround her to this day, leaving us with a very intimate portrait of a life lived in defiance of social convention.

Length

400
Pages
Language

EN
English
Publisher

Amberley Publishing
Publication date

2019
August 1
Dimensions

5.0 x 1.0 x 7.8
inches
ISBN-10

1445689499
ISBN-13

978-1445689494
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'A wonderful book ... remarkably engrossing and elegantly written'--Amanda Foreman

From the Author

Tim Clarke is a historian and a former lawyer.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Amberley Publishing; Reprint edition (August 1, 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1445689499
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1445689494
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.1 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 1 x 7.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,158,279 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5,001 in Royalty Biographies
- #5,557 in Historical British Biographies
- #25,090 in Great Britain History (Books)

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4.4 17 ratings

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Bashir A

A Vixen or Heroine?

Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2018

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Frances Villiers was a wicked anti heroine. Beautiful, Catty, petite, elegant to a degree, she bursts out from this book like a vague, unfinished portrait. She was not a natural letter writer, as she was a capital extrovert. She never read books either, which explains a lot about her sense of elocution in the letter writing abilities. Thankfully, her robust & forceful character was able to annoy & irritate great contemporary dames who frequently gossiped about her in letters. (to my utter delight) I believe this is her first official biography. Although enjoyable, and informative to read; i was still not satisfied as to unmasking this enigmatic countess. There are many questions unanswered, historical tidbits unexplained. Alas, maybe a good vixen is left unrevealed.

Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2019

I am really excited to see this biography come out, and there is much to appreciate here. Tim Clarke has pursued and gotten access to a lot of materials that aren't readily available, and put together an interesting and coherent narrative.

I'm disappointed that several of the major mysteries of the Countess's life are not explored at all. Where did she grow up? How did she meet the Earl? Why did they marry? Amazing to have a biography that skips so swiftly to "the good parts" without more effort at investigating her early life.

I'm completely befuddled, however, by Mr. Clarke's rush to negative judgement of his subject, based on some leaps of logic. In Mr. Clarke's estimation, we must all blame Lady Jersey for the significantly bad reputation...of George IV. How? Why?

Her "real mischief," it turns out, according to his final chapter, "the Verdict of History," is that "...King George IV went to his grave disgraced by, and to be remembered in light of, his many misdeeds, not least his marriage to and treatment of Princess Caroline. And in that Frances Jersey played no mean part." (p. 300). "That," he concludes, "was her legacy and for that and what flowed from it she must take the blame." He states in a matter of fact manner that the Prince of Wales and Lady Jersey together put the entire British Monarchy "under threat."

Perhaps detecting that this is a problematic way to end his 300 page biography, he goes on to say, "that apart," she was "not all bad."

What is this about? Why is there a need to do a summary to find her odious? And why does she need to be judged on her supposed influence on the Prince of Wales? Mr Clarke himself notes at multiple points in the biography that George IV was not particularly subject to lasting influence, and was not very consistent. Moreover, George's affair with Lady Jersey while he was Prince of Wales lasted for perhaps 5 years, and the bulk of his actions towards his wife occurred decades after the end of their affair, and that affair did not end cordially.

In his rush to judgement, moreover, Mr. Clarke has made a mistake which I don't understand, as the first major biographer of Frances Villiers. He opens his "verdict" chapter by stating that you can pretty much sum up Lady Jersey's reputation by noticing that there is no memorial plaque for Frances Jersey in the Earl of Jersey's family vault in the Middleton Stoney Parish Church.

This is simply not true. I have been there. I have photographed the plaque. I have no idea how this biography could end on this triumphant negative note, and for the basic fact of the matter to be wrong.

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Msfit

a real labour of love, industry and commitment

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 14, 2016

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I know an enormous amount about this era and this character so was really interested to read this book. The research is immaculate; a real labour of love, industry and commitment. The prose style is occasionally pedestrian and rather less ambitious; irritating to read 'as we shall see' quite so often, when the author refers to some letter or snippet of gossip that he is going to go into later. But as all good biographers should be, he's in love with his subject, and one senses he cannot wait to get on to his next revelation.

Too much speculation rather than historical fact, but this is nevertheless a welcome addition for those who love biographies of the personalities in this period.

One person found this helpful

PAB

Well researched and readable

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 8, 2017

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A scholarly and very well researched biography of Frances Countess of Jersey. The author has produced a readable and detailed account of Frances Villiers' life, clearing up some of the many misconceptions that have contributed to her poor reputation. He has identified instances when other historians have confused references to her daughter in law, Sally Countess of Jersey, attributing them wrongly to Frances.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the Regency period; it paints a very good picture of the aristocratic personalities of the day and their family connections.

One person found this helpful

Amazon Customer

It's always a pleasure to read an approachable history book ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 16, 2016

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It's always a pleasure to read an approachable history book. This first book from Tim Clarke is well researched and well written. More please Tim.

2 people found this helpful

Pippa

A bit disappointing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 23, 2018

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A fascinating story but sadly written in a very dry way.

Suzanne Dixon

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 9, 2018

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The book is useful and delivery was timely.
Well done

One person found this helpful

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