The daughter of an exiled Scottish physician, she was educated in France and returned to England as Maid of Honour to Charles II's queen, Catherine of Braganza. Her beauty attracted the attention of the king but in 1667 she declined Charles's offer to make her a duchess and eloped with and married Charles Stuart, duke of Richmond and Lennox, much to the king's displeasure. However, the duchess (known as La Belle Stuart) soon returned to court, and Charles renewed his attentions, dispatching her husband to Scotland (1670) and Denmark (1671), where he died. She is the figure that appears on the back of today’s 50p coins as Britannia.

This is my close copy of a painting by Sir Peter Lely and part of the famous Windsor beauties collection of paintings, which were painted in the early to mid 1660s.

Dimensions: 115 x 93 cms

FOR SALE: Oils on canvas, £500