As guest speaker for the Borough of Twickenham Local History Society’s annual Alan Urwin Memorial Lecture, author Tracey Borman rammed home the axiom that fact is stranger than fiction on the subject of local society girl, Henrietta Howard.

Henrietta and her pretty Palladian Villa at Marble Hill, survives as a tangible reminder of a king’s mistress whose life and times would have filled the pages of today’s gossip magazines week in, week out.

Mercifully, Ms Borman’s book Henrietta Howard: King’s Mistress, Queen’s Servant is in an altogether different league and can only be hinted at here. Born Henrietta Hobart at Blickling Hall in Norfolk, at age 17 her life was blighted by the loss of both parents, leading her into a disastrous marriage to notorious gambler, drinker and bully, Charles Howard.

Their only child, Henry, was born in 1707, by which time the couple were already penniless and pursued by creditors. Even the 18 guineas Henrietta was offered for her famously beautiful chestnut hair wasn’t sufficient to settle their debts. And so, in a bold gamble of her own, she conceived of a plan for the pair to travel to Hanover to secure places at the court of the man who would soon be the King of England.

It worked. The gamble paid off. Henrietta obtained a position as a Woman of the Bedchamber to Caroline, now Princess of Wales, and Charles secured a position in the household of the new King.

While Henrietta had achieved a measure of financial security, it was by no means an end to her woes. Becoming mistress to the Prince of Wales, she moved with his court from St James’ Palace in 1717 to the summer retreat at Richmond Lodge. Charles remained in London with their son, whom he poisoned against his mother so effectively that Henrietta never saw him again. Henrietta’s royal lover offered little in the way of pleasant distraction.

He was a crotchety, ill-tempered, vain individual, whose constant rages turned his face crimson, his eyes bulging and his feet stamping when they were not busy booting his wig.

For 16 long years she suffered as little more than ‘an appurtenance to his grandeur’. Henrietta was discreet, widely known as ‘The Swiss’ on account of her carefully cultivated neutrality.

While she captivated much of the court and society with her wit and intelligence, she was perceived as no threat to Caroline, who often cruelly ensured that Henrietta knew her place as Woman of the Bedchamber.

Despite her prestige at court as the King’s mistress, Henrietta continued to suffer the torment of her husband. Unwilling to bear it any longer, in 1728 she took the hugely courageous step for a woman of those times in obtaining a legal separation from her husband.

From that moment on, her life began to change. When Charles inherited the title Earl of Suffolk in 1731, Henrietta became the Countess. Of too high a status to remain a Woman of the Bedchamber, she was promoted to the much less demeaning role of Mistress of the Robes.

Charles died two years later and in 1734 the relationship with the King ended. The following year she fell in love and married George Berkeley, thus embarking on the happiest years of her life until George’s death in 1746.

In 1723 the Prince of Wales had made a settlement on Henrietta giving her financial independence from her husband. She decided to build herself a house on land fronting the river at Twickenham, known as Marble Hill.

The house, designed in the newly fashionable Palladian manner was built under the supervision of Roger Morris, with the gardens laid out by Charles Bridgeman and Alexander Pope.

Work started in 1724 and was completed five years later. Here she would eventually hold a court of her own with friends such as Pope, Gay, Dean Swift, Lord Chesterfield and in later years a new neighbour, Horace Walpole.

As Lady Suffolk, Henrietta was considered the model of decorum, praised by Pope as “a reasonable woman, handsome and witty, yet a friend”.

When George II died in 1760, Henrietta’s pension ended, adding to the decline of her last years.

Walpole paid his regular visit to her at Marble Hill on 26th July 1767 and found her well, but that same evening she died. She is buried next to her second husband, George Berkeley, at Berkeley Castle.

The theme of this year’s Social Evening and Quiz on January 5th 2009 is Memories.

Meetings are held at St Mary’s Church Hall, Church Street, Twickenham, at 8pm. Guests and non-members are welcome.

Membership secretary, Mrs J Scaping 020 8898 9318, visit www.botlhs.co.uk. Secretary is Ron Knight 020 8878 7041.