Who’s Real?
Ever wonder which of the characters in Palace of Spies was a real person? Quite a lot of them were. Starting with Peggy’s BFF at court: Molly Lepell.
WARNING! There’s actually a spoiler in this…
Molly was Maid of Honour to Caroline. She was nicknamed ‘the Schatz’, German for ‘treasure’.
She was renowned for her beauty, her elegant figure, her big grey ‘soft and sprightly’ eyes and her lustrous skin. Sprightly and fun-loving as well as being well educated and intelligent, Molly learnedto carefully disguised her learnedness at court.
She secretly married Lord Hervey in 1720. Married maids were forced to relinquish their positions, something Molly could not afford to do. After marriage, and perhaps as a result of her husband’s infidelities, Molly missed the chase and scandal of being pursued by men.
‘Bright Venus yet never sat bedded,
So perfect a beau and a belle,
As when Hervey the handsome was wedded,
to the beautiful Molly Lepell,
– Chesterfield and Pulteney
For more on the historical Molly Lepell, check out this great site.