Mary Anne Clarke (born Mary Anne Thompson 3 April 1776 – 21 June 1852) was the mistress of Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. Their relationship began in 1803, while he was Commander-in-Chief of the army. Later in 1809, she wrote her memoirs which were published. She was the subject of a portrait by Adam Buck, and a caricature by Isaac Cruikshank; ten days after the latter's publication, the Duke resigned from his post as Commander of the British Army. In 1811, she commissioned Irish-born sculptor Lawrence Gahagan to sculpt a marble bust of her; this is now housed in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Through her daughter who married Louis-Mathurin Busson du Maurier, Clarke was the ancestress of author Daphne Du Maurier, who wrote the novel Mary Anne about her life.
Read more about Mary Anne Clarke: Life As A Courtesan, Legacy and Writings
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““... Anne has a way with flowers to take the place
Of what she’s lost: she goes down on one knee
And lifts their faces by the chin to hers
And says their names, and leaves them where they are.””
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Burn Ovid with the rest. Lovers will find
A hedge-school for themselves and learn by heart
All that the clergy banish from the mind,”
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