The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 8, Number 3, Spring 2020 | Page 93

ontributions of Women Jacobites 1688–1788
3
support to the young Prince Charles.
Prince Charles returned to France and
requested the assistance of King Louis
XV’s minister of finance to help him restore
the Stuart line to the throne. One
minister, the Duc de Richelieu, favored
Charles because he had powerful female
supporters, including two of Loius
XV’s “mistresses the Duchess de Chateauroux
and Madame de Pompadour,
and Madame de Mezieres, that indefatigable
Jacobite plotter.” 25 The young Eleanor
continued to plot for the Stuart
cause long after the 1745 uprising. She
wrote the Prince a letter in May 1759
and begged him to approach the French
once again to support him in a new campaign
in England. 26 The letter shows the
depth of loyalty the Oglethorpe women
provided to the House of Stuart, which
continued throughout the generations.
Elenor wrote, “All my ancestors have
given marks of their zeal to Your majesty’s
august house; their blood runs in
my veins, and I have always sought the
opportunity to prove it.” 27
Unlike her sister Eleanor, Mistress
Anne Oglethorpe loved adventure
and excitement. She used several
aliases, such as Mrs. Worthy and Mrs.
Fidelia. Anne chose an unconventional
lifestyle and opted to become the mistress
of England’s Secretary of State,
Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, the minister
to Queen Anne of England. Anne
met Harley in 1704 when Hanoverians
intercepted the boat she was traveling
on from France to England. The
Hanoverians questioned Anne and the
other passengers and searched for Jacobite
plans. Anne used her beauty and
flirtation to pit Robert Harley, the Sec-