Henrietta Howard, later Countess of Suffolk, was the long-term mistress and confidante of George II. Orphaned at twelve and dragged into poverty by her brutal husband, Henrietta used her own ingenuity and determination to secure a role at the very heart of the royal court. But she was far more than mistress to the King: a dedicated patron of the arts; a lively and talented intellectual; a passionate advocate for the rights of women long before the dawn of feminism. The mark that this enigmatic royal mistress left on the society and culture of early Georgian England was to resonate well beyond the confines of the court, and can still be felt today.
