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| Keywords: people gown costume Lady Mary Feilding, who was the third child and first daughter of William Feilding, Earl of Denbigh and his wife Susan Villiers, sister of George, Duke of Buckingham. In June 1622, at the very early age of nine, she was married to the fourteen-year-old James Hamilton, 3rd Marquess of Hamilton, later created 1st Duke of Hamilton in 1643 (1). This arranged marriage was one of the most significant dynastic matches to be made during the Jacobean reign, for it paired up the scion of Scotland’s leading noble family, the Hamiltons – distant cousins to James I – with that of Margaret’s uncle, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. Buckingham, as ‘favourite’ to both James I and Charles I, was to become the most powerful man in the kingdom before his assassination in 1628 (2). Marriages of aristocratic children of this sort were becoming rare by this time, and the fact they could not be consummated gave them a public dimension that, in Mary Feilding’s case, bordered on farce. In 1626, when she had reached the age of thirteen, Hamilton removed himself to Scotland, perhaps in fright. The king was incensed and tried to bribe Hamilton to return by making him Master of the Horse. This failed initially, and the king then wrote a letter in his own hand demanding that Hamilton ‘be quickly here’. This forced Hamilton, now eighteen-year-old, back to London and, on the night of his return, into the bed of his teenage wife. He tried to plead exhaustion and lack of clean linen in the hope of causing a brief postponement, ‘Whereupon his Majestie commanded his owne Barber to attend him with a shirt, waistcoat & nightcap of his majesties, & would not be satisfied till he had seen them both in bed together.’ Thereafter not a great deal is known of her short life, which came to an end at the age of twenty-five (3). She and Hamilton had six children, only two of whom survived: the younger, Susannah (subject of a beautiful portrait by John Michael Wright), who married the 7th Earl of Cassilis and Anne who became Duchess of Hamilton in her own right. Lady Mary Feilding, who was the third child and first daughter of William Feilding, Earl of Denbigh and his wife Susan Villiers, sister of George, Duke of Buckingham. In June 1622, at the very early age of nine, she was married to the fourteen-year-old James Hamilton, 3rd Marquess of Hamilton, later created 1st Duke of Hamilton in 1643 (1). This arranged marriage was one of the most significant dynastic matches to be made during the Jacobean reign, for it paired up the scion of Scotland’s leading noble family, the Hamiltons – distant cousins to James I – with that of Margaret’s uncle, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. Buckingham, as ‘favourite’ to both James I and Charles I, was to become the most powerful man in the kingdom before his assassination in 1628 (2). Marriages of aristocratic children of this sort were becoming rare by this time, and the fact they could not be consummated gave them a public dimension that, in Mary Feilding’s case, bordered on farce. In 1626, when she had reached the age of thirteen, Hamilton removed himself to Scotland, perhaps in fright. The king was incensed and tried to bribe Hamilton to return by making him Master of the Horse. This failed initially, and the king then wrote a letter in his own hand demanding that Hamilton ‘be quickly here’. This forced Hamilton, now eighteen-year-old, back to London and, on the night of his return, into the bed of his teenage wife. He tried to plead exhaustion and lack of clean linen in the hope of causing a brief postponement, ‘Whereupon his Majestie commanded his owne Barber to attend him with a shirt, waistcoat & nightcap of his majesties, & would not be satisfied till he had seen them both in bed together.’ Thereafter not a great deal is known of her short life, which came to an end at the age of twenty-five (3). She and Hamilton had six children, only two of whom survived: the younger, Susannah (subject of a beautiful portrait by John Michael Wright), who married the 7th Earl of Cassilis and Anne who became Duchess of Hamilton in her own right. | ||||
