TWINNING ... wait , there ’ s more
Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor became the mistress of Eddie Fisher whilst he was still married to Debbie Reynolds . He consoled her after the death of her third husband Mike Todd , to whom he had stood as best man at their wedding and Debbie Reynolds was their matron of honour . Following his divorce Eddie Fisher ’ s career nosedived whilst Debbie Reynolds saw a meteoric rise boosted by the scandal . Debbie was America ’ s sweetheart so Elizabeth Taylor became the most hated woman in America . Eddie was married to Liz for 5 years before she met and married Richard Burton . After seven years Debbie Reynolds held out the olive branch to Elizabeth Taylor . They became good friends again and in later life Debbie used to visit Liz and they ’ d sit on her bed and reminisce whilst eating pumpkin pie . Elizabeth left Debbie a legacy of jewellery in her Will which she inherited on Elizabeth ’ s death in 2011 .
Eastern Suburbs NWR meeting on Mistresses - 6th May
Although it did not generate the amount of interest that was evident in our last twinning topic , those who participated learnt worthwhile things when social pages were opened . I include a section from my introduction .
“ Although the concept of mistresses tends to evoke images of the gutter press unlocking salacious tit bits its worth thinking about it in the context of sex and power . Our Macquarie Dictionary defines “ mistress ” as ‘ a woman who has a continual sexual relationship with one man outside marriage .
I brought some concubine tea for “ health and beauty ” for supper [ purchased while @ a tea tasting in China ]. With changes in recent times to an understanding of de facto relationships I turned to the Family Law Act . Before the 1975 Family Law Act , divorce was difficult and so perhaps there were more mistresses . De facto relationships , especially concerning property , if the relationships broke down and needed dispersion , had been recognized in the 70 ’ s & 80 ’ s in most states . Between the 70 ’ s and the 90 ’ s family law matters were handled at a state level . However in 2009 the Federal courts were given the responsibility and they officially recognised de facto relationships . Today we recognize the roles of husband , wife & mistress as clearly as our ancestors did more than 200 years ago .
23 of our members attended on a crisp autumn evening . Many chose mistresses with whom they had a cultural link . Here are their snippets !
Madame Francois de
Maintenon [ Louis XIV 1700 ’ s ] Madame Francois d ’ Abigne was originally married to an older French poet who died when she was 25 . She then became governess to Louis XIV ’ s children , some of whom were born from his previous mistresses . He was attracted to Francois and consequently elevated her to the nobility . She converted to Catholicism and was secretly married to King Louis in 1683 . However she could not be publicly accepted as she was a commoner . She founded a school for noble girls who would not otherwise have had an education . Because of her influence King Louis revoked the Edict of Nantes , which forced Hugenot protestants to leave France subsequently starting the watch industry in places like Geneva . This was a point not lost on Monique our Swiss presenter .
Lady Hamilton [ Lord Nelson 1800 ’ s ] Emma was born in a village near Sue Perkin ’ s parents in Chester . She was the daughter of a poor blacksmith but at age of 12 worked as a nurse maid and was then sought out by a brothel keeper . She posed as a model for photographs but then her current partner left her . When Lord Hamilton first saw her in Naples he was smitten . Lord Hamilton and Nelson were close friends and in fact Hamilton so enjoyed and revered Nelson ’ s company he was prepared to turn a blind eye to their affair and live as a ménage a trois when he was not at sea . Emma died at 50 and she and Nelson had a daughter Horatia but never married . All over Portsmouth both Nelson and Emma are revered in spite of the fact that she was not allowed to go to Nelson ’ s funeral .
Henry Parkes Henry was the Father of Federation of Australia and father of 17 children . He was a self -educated figure whose natural talents helped him embark on a political career . However the doors of Government house were soon closed to him because of his second wedding to his previous mistress , Clarindah . His 3rd mistress , Nellie Dixon later became his wife and she remained with him until he died in 1896 .
19