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Mary Anne Clarke (née Thompson) (1776 – 1852)
Mary Anne Clarke (née Thompson) (1776 - 1852) From 1803 to 1809 Mary Anne Clarke was mistress to Frederick, Duke of York. Their affair turned into a political scandal when the Duke was charged with corruption for promoting officers from whom Clarke had taken bribes. Renouncing the Duke, Clarke wrote her own revealing memoirs and extracted huge pensions from the government to suppress them. To help us visualise Mary Anne Clarke there are a small number of portraits, a number of cartoons, often lampooning her relationship with Frederick, Duke of York (1763 - 1827), and the beautiful marble bust by Irish sculptor Lawrence Gahagan. The bust was purchased by the National Portrait Gallery in 1965, and you can see it displayed there in room number 17. This room has the title Royalty, Celebrity and Scandal, so Mary Anne is very appropriately placed there.
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Last updated 1st April 2023 Website by WesternWeb Ltd