Word: buckingham
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Such was the Restoration pattern-up the ladder, down the ladder, in a maze of political and bedroom intrigues. The two latest Restoration biographies-one on George Villiers, second Duke of Buckingham, the other on John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester-are not merely complementary, they are like reading the same crazy story twice...
Cuckolds Grow Troublesome. "Bucks," as Author Wilson insists on calling Buckingham, was the more striking figure of the two. Born to the purple, he was so handsome, witty and intelligent that Louis XIV was maliciously pleased to describe him as "almost,the only English gentleman he had seen." Buckingham could "fix" anything, from a political treaty to a royal date: it was he, for example, who introduced King Charles to Nell Gwynn and arranged for the King to discover the Duchess of Cleveland in bed with Jack Churchill. He dabbled in chemistry, playwriting, poetry and music, and' his swordsmanship...
...full glory as Privy Councillor, Master of the Horse, Gentleman of the Bedchamber, a Minister of State, Buckingham was so haughty that not Charles himself escaped the great duke's disdain. When he was really exasperated by the royal indolence, Buckingham could express himself excellently in light verse...
...contempt of Charles, which rivals could easily carry to the King, that brought Buckingham down. His estates squandered, he died (1687), stripped of his honors, in a farmhouse bedroom...
...paint the picture, Gunn worked at Buckingham Palace for six months. The Queen posed only half a dozen times; for the rest he used previous sketches and a dummy made to her measurements and clothed in her coronation gown. Crown and scepter were delivered from the Tower of London as needed. The end result makes Elizabeth look every inch a queen, though with none of the sparkle and radiance that the camera caught during the coronation ceremonies. Says Gunn of his approach to his subject: "A portrait should be what the char sees. That's what I was aiming...