Improbable Women: Five Who Explored the Middle East

4. First Lady

38 4 First Lady In September 1802, Hester set off on her European tour. She planned to see her brother Philip and fully experience the continent so often discussed by her family and friends. By this time, tours followed organized coach routes and offered the options of purchasing or hiring carriages, some fitted with elliptical spring suspensions that minimized shocks from rutted roads. Cross-channel service was regular but subject to the whims of weather, and some road segments, such as the Mount Cenis pass from Switzerland to Italy, might become impassable so that carriages had to be disassembled and carried by pack animals. Most important, one had to precisely schedule one’s trip to avoid periods of conflict between French and English forces. Hester traveled with a carefully arranged set of chaperones—a couple unlikely to interfere with her activities. It is interesting that Hester with her disregard of convention still felt it inadvisable to tackle Europe on her own. Of course, her solution was eminently effective in that she had the appearance of chaperones with little of the constraint. After a joyous reunion with Philip, the reality of a younger brother growing into his own independence beyond her control seems to have strained their relationship. Nevertheless they traveled together, and when they reached the mountains between France and Italy they had to hire mules and muleteers to take them across. The rigors of the journey brought them closer together and the relationship was largely repaired by the time they parted, although the affair foreshadowed the future state of their relationship. First Lady • 39 Hester wintered in Italy among English travelers and expatriates of her own class who feted and entertained her, giving her an experience of Europe not unlike her life in England. In May 1803, the party made its way back to England through Germany, and when she arrived, anticipating a fond reunion with her Grandmama, she learned that Lady Chatham had died in April. She had lost someone who loved her dearly and she had lost a home; her uncle was soon to gain a hostess. Pitt, the son of William Pitt the Elder, entered politics in 1780 at age twenty-one. He became the reform leader and established his first ministry in 1783 at age twenty-four, the youngest prime minister in England’s history. This ministry lasted until 1801. In the second ministry , 1804–6, he led Britain during the Napoleonic wars. It was in 1803 that Hester returned from Europe to find herself without a home. Hester’s mother had been Pitt’s favorite sister, and though at this point he did not get on well with her father, he had always been supportive of Hester and her siblings. Still, it was a major step for a forty-four-year-old confirmed bachelor to adapt his life and habits to a headstrong twenty-seven-year-old woman. Some years before, when asked what would happen to Hester after Lady Chatham died, he replied that “[u]nder no circumstances could I offer her a home in my own house.”1 Yet, when the occasion arose, he did not hesitate and welcomed Hester to Walmer Castle. It became an excellent arrangement for both of them. Pitt appeared to regard her almost as a daughter, whose presence brightened his life. Hester gained a replacement for a father who had all but disowned her and began a period that ranked among the happiest of her life. In the last years of her life, she loved to recall this time when she was in charge of the prime minister’s household and hostess at his table. She was clearly in her element with “three or four men staying in the house” and dinner for “eight or ten almost every other day. Military and naval characters are welcome here; women are not . . . You may guess, then, what a pretty fuss they make with me” (53) was Hester’s happy summary. It had also been a formative experience. Like Charles Stanhope, Pitt was a brilliant, accomplished man, and he offered Hester a very different view of the world. 40 • Lady Hester Lucy Stanhope Among the men she met was Sir John Moore, one of Pitt’s favorite generals. He had begun his distinguished army career at fifteen, when he served in England’s fight against American independence, and later distinguished himself as a ranking officer in the battle...