The Beauties was inspired by a real series of paintings, The Windsor Beauties, which now hangs at Hampton Court Palace. During the 1660s, the court artist Peter Lely painted eleven portraits of women who shared some connection to King Charles II. The subject of one portrait, Barbara Castlemaine, was the king’s chief mistress. Another of the Windsor Beauties, Frances Stuart, evaded his attempts to seduce her. Other sitters include Elizabeth Denham, whose jealous husband murdered her by poisoning her cup of morning chocolate.
The paintings were commissioned by Anne Hyde, a commoner who married the King’s brother James, the Duke of York. She and James met before the Restoration, while living in exile. When it became known that she was carrying the duke’s child, a group of self-proclaimed ‘Anne-haters’ conspired to destroy her reputation and the prospect of her marriage.
Anne overcame the scandal and went on to give birth to several children, including two daughters who lived long enough to be crowned queens. She died of breast cancer at the age of thirty-four, just a few years after The Windsor Beauties was completed. I believe she commissioned the series as a way of empowering other women and giving them the confidence to overcome the challenges they faced living in a patriarchal system. The Windsor Beauties was her legacy.
Thank you to all the editors and writer friends (you know who you are) who read several drafts of The Beauties and offered helpful suggestions. Thank you to my agent Tara Wynne and the team at Simon & Schuster for sharing their expertise during the writing process and to the very generous readers who continue to buy and support my work. I am deeply indebted to my family for their ongoing love and encouragement.