Olivia: My family were just as racy
AS OLIVIA Colman prepares to play the middle-aged Queen in the next series of The Crown, she must have reflected on the difference in her family history and the complex, sometimes turbulent story of the House of Windsor.
Olivia always believed her ancestors were ‘fairly boring’ – until taking part in the BBC’s TV show Who Do You Think You Are?
‘I thought there was nobody exotic in my family,’ says Olivia, 34.
But she discovered her greatgreat-great-great-grandparents Richard and Sarah Bazett had a clandestine affair. Bazett petitioned Parliament for a divorce from his first wife Margaret after she ‘committed adultery’ with a harpist, Frederick Dizi. Yet by the time of his rare divorce, on March 13, 1809, he – like many privileged men of his era – had two illegitimate sons William, then three, and Charles, two, who was Colman’s great-greatgreat-grandfather. ‘Richard has made a big deal about his wife being unfaithful,’ said Colman. ‘Meanwhile, he’s having it away with Sarah. What a hypocrite.’ But it was the story of Charles’s wife Harriot – Colman’s greatgreat-great-grand mother – which brought tears to her eyes. Born in 1807 in a remote town in north-east India, she was ‘probably’ the result of a relationship between her father, wealthy merchant William Slessor, and a local Indian woman.
Her father died in a shooting accident when she was three and she later married an Indian army lieutenant, within 12 months.
Finally, Harriot met Charles Bazett and returned to India, where they had four children, including Colman’s great-great-grandmother Mary.
‘Harriot’s story is incredible,’ said Colman. ‘To find out her mum was local has made me feel more exotic.’