The love rival

In accepting an invitation to serve Caroline as bedchamber woman in 1714, the well-born but impoverished Henrietta Howard was motivated by financial exigency; she did not plan to become George Augustus’s mistress. This is what happened, however, and Caroline was swift to exploit the liaison to her own ends. She recognised that Mrs Howard’s threat to her dominance of George Augustus was manageable, and ensured that Henrietta remained a reluctant royal mistress for 17 years.