Mistress Janet

Mistress Janet
A blog dedicated to a variety of ladies who were members of Scotland’s monarchy, peerage and clans (c. 11th–18th centuries).
Notable Scottish royal mistresses (14th–16th century)
AGNES DUNBAR (1343 - 1378) ✧ Mistress of David II of Scotland; was the daughter of Sir Patrick Dunbar and Isabella Randolph. Her maternal aunt was Agnes Randolph, Countess of Dunbar (also know as Black Agnes). Her first husband was a man named Robert and they had issue. She appears to have become the mistress of David II around 1369, as payments to her began then. A payment of 1000 merks, a very large sum at that time, was arranged for her a month before the king died suddenly in February 1371, which indicates that he may have been planning to marry her. In 1372 she married Sir James Douglas of Dalkeith.
ELIZABETH MURE (1320 - 1355) ✧ Mistress and later wife of Robert, High Steward of Scotland and Guardian, later Robert II of Scotland; was the daughter of Sir Adam Mure of Rowallan and Janet Mure of Pokellie. Initially was Robert’s mistress before he was king. They married in 1336 but the marriage was criticised as uncanonical, so they were remarried in 1349 following a papal dispensation dated at Avignon 22 November 1347. They had at least ten children, some accounts saying as many as thirteen, including the future Robert III. Elizabeth died before her husband inherited the crown at the age of 55 in 1371.
MARION BOYD (1477 - 1559) ✧ Mistress of James IV of Scotland, and his first important mistress; was the daughter of Archibald Boyd and Christian Mure and was related to Thomas Boyd, Earl of Arran, and a niece of the second wife of Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus. The first record of the affair was in 1492. Marion was a comely, witty and charming mistress. She was a close confidant and card-playing companion of the king. James was faithful to Marion for months. The affair ended up lasting three years, during which Marion bore James his first two illegitimate children: Alexander Stewart, who would be appointed Archbishop of St. Andrews at the age of eleven and a daughter, Catherine. The affair came to an end in 1495, when the king married Marion off to someone else.
MARGARET DRUMMOND (1475 - 1501) ✧ Mistress of James IV of Scotland and known as ‘The diamond of Delight’ to him; was the daughter of John 1st Lord Drummond Drummond and Elizabeth Baroness Drummond Lindsay. She was the 4th great niece of Margaret Drummond, Queen Consort of David II. She was definitely the mistress of James IV during 1496-97, and possibly as early as 1495. Records show residing at Stirling Castle with the king from 3 June 1496, and from 30 October to March 1497 at Linlithgow Palace. The king had a number of mistresses in his time, and this relationship seems to have been shorter than those he had with either Marion Boyd or Janet Kennedy. Margaret and James IV had atleast one daughter, Margaret Stewart, known as “Lady Margaret”. In 1501 Margaret, along with her sisters Eupheme and Sibylla, died of food poisoning, while staying at Drummond Castle. After her death the king paid for masses to be said for her soul, and continued to support their daughter. The three sisters are buried together in Dunblane Cathedral.
AGNES STEWART (1472 - 1557) ✧ Mistress of James IV of Scotland; was the illegitimate daughter of James Stewart, 1st Earl of Buchan and Margaret Murray and the half sister of James’ other mistress, Isabel Stewart. At an early age Agnes Stewart attracted the attention of her distant cousin King James IV of Scotland and gave birth to his daughter, Janet Stewart (mistress to Henry II of France). Agnes was married four times after this affair with James IV. Her first husband was Adam, the 2nd Earl of Bothwell. Their grandson, James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell and Duke of Orkney. The second husband of Agnes was Alexander, the 3rd Lord Home. Her third husband was Robert, 4th Lord Maxwell and the fourth and last was Cuthbert Ramsey. She was legitimized on 31 October 1552, confirmed by Queen Mary of Guise under the Great Seal of Scotland.
ISABEL STEWART (1480 - 1570) ✧ Mistress of James IV of Scotland; was the daughter of James Stewart, 1st Earl of Buchan and Margaret Murray, making her the half sister of Agnes Stewart. Both sisters were the granddaughters of Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scots and were seen as attractive women. The start of Isabel’s relationship with the King is not known but she is listed as the last recognized mistress of James IV. It is unclear whether or not she had daughter named Janet as well.
JANET KENNEDY (1480 - 1545) ✧ Mistress of James IV of Scotland and was probably the most influential of the king’s mistresses; was the daughter of John Kennedy, 2nd Lord Kennedy and Lady Elizabeth Gordon. through her father, she was a 2nd great granddaughter of King Robert III. She is believed to have first been married to Alexander Gordon in 1493. They may have had a daughter. In 1497, Janet was the mistress of Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus "Bell the Cat", with whom she had a daughter, Mary. Around 1499 she attracted the attention of James IV. They lived openly together at Stirling Castle throughout the time of diplomatic discussions for his English marriage and she travelled to other parts of Scotland in his company as well. James paid her expenses, gave her costly clothes, gifts and the castle of Darnaway in the north-eastern part of the country. Janet appears to have been a keen horsewoman and James’s gifts of a black horse and sumptuous riding clothes allow tantalizing glimpses of her life and interests. Herself and the king were both keen embroiderers. Although James had a number of mistresses, this appears to have been his longest relationship, which continued two years after his marriage to Margaret Tudor. Two of her lovers died at the Battle of Flodden.
EUPHEMIA ELPHINSTONE (1509 - 1547) ✧ Mistress of James V of Scotland; was the daughter of Alexander Elphinstone, Lord Elphinstone (who died at the Battle of Flodden) & Elizabeth Barlow of Aberdeenshire. Euphemia married John Bruce of Cultmalindie and had five children. She became mistress around 1530 and had a son Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Orkney born in 1533. Some sources say that Euphemia had a second illegitimate child by the king, which died in infancy. If so it suggests that their relationship lasted for some time until 1535 when Euphemia married John Bruce of Cultmalindie, a descendent of Robert the Bruce. They had five children together. There is no record of Euphemia’s death and some sources suggest she died in 1542. Most agree that her last child was not born until 1547, so Euphemia must have lived until at least then.
MARGARET ERSKINE (1515 - 1572) ✧ Mistress of James V of Scotland some accounts describe her as his favourite, also known as ‘ the Lady of Lochleven’ ; was the daughter of John Erskine, 5th Lord Erskine and Lady Margaret Campbell. In 1527, Margaret married Sir Robert Douglas of Lochleven, who was killed at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh. She became James’ mistress sometime before 1531 when she gave birth to a son James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray the most important of his illegitimate children who was Regent during the minority of James VI. Margaret showed genuine affection for the King, even though she probably had several lovers as well.
ELIZABETH BETHUNE (c. 1518 - ?) ✧ Mistress of James V of Scotland; was the daughter of Sir John Bethune (or Beaton) of Creich. Elizabeth was married to John Stewart, 4th Lord Innermeath, by whom she had two sons. She later married secondly to James Gray, son of Patrick Gray, 4th Lord Gray. She became James’ mistress sometime before 1542 when she have birth to a daughter, Jean Stewart. Jean was brought up in the household of Mary of Guise and then briefly in the nursery of her legitimate half-brother, Prince James, the Duke of Rothesay, the infant son of King James V. Elizabeth died sometime after 1544.

Something went wrong, but don’t fret — let’s give it another shot.

Wednesday, Jun 1st 2022
6PM
19°C
9PM
15°C

5-Day Forecast

Joseph Kennedy is made US Ambassador to Britain in 1938
No compatible source was found for this video.
Foreground --- White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan --- Opaque Semi-Opaque
Background --- White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan --- Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent
Window --- White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan --- Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent
Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400%
Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow
Font Family Default Monospace Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Sans-Serif Casual Script Small Caps
RELATED ARTICLES Previous 1 Next

Embed icon

Embed Most Watched Videos

By embedding this you agree to our terms and conditions

Cancel
Copy code
Tick icon

Code copied

Site
Web

Enter search term:
Search

Inside airport chaos as worker reveals fears for passenger safety as staff work without breaks
Boris Johnson Says Partygate Has Been 'Miserable' But Rejects Calls To Resign
Ukraine war: US to send longer-range rockets in latest aid package
Partygate: Boris Johnson says he was 'very, very surprised' to receive fine for lockdown party
Billi Mucklow DITCHES engagement ring
Putin's top commander 'hasn't been seen for weeks and may have been purged'
Meg & Harry 'arrive TODAY' for Jubilee with fears they'll drop 'Sussex bomb'
Four people who attended Sarah Everard vigil in court accused of Covid law breaking
Missguided: Sports Direct owner Frasers Group buys fashion retailer after collapse

Home

News

U.S.

Sport

TV&Showbiz

Australia

Femail

Health

Science

Money

Video

Travel

Best Buys

Discounts

Published: 16:29 GMT, 1 December 2015 | Updated: 21:21 GMT, 1 December 2015
Ronald Kessler, a former Washington Post and Wall Street Journal investigative reporter, is the New York Times bestselling author of 20 books, including 'The Sins of the Father: Joseph P. Kennedy and the Dynasty He Founded' and most recently 'The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of the Presidents.'
During his lifetime, Joseph P. Kennedy, the founder of the Kennedy dynasty, was described in print as a Horatio Alger hero and chaste Roman Catholic. The former U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, who died in 1969 at the age of 81, was usually pictured with his wife Rose and one or more of his nine children, including President John F. Kennedy.
Published pictures never showed his well-sculpted, green-eyed Hyannis Port secretary, Janet Des Rosiers, who was his mistress for nine years. A sugar-coated, self-censored account of her affair with Joe Kennedy has appeared in her self-published book 'A Good Life.'
But when she revealed the affair for the first time in an interview for my book 'The Sins of the Father: Joseph P. Kennedy and the Dynasty He Founded,' Des Rosiers gave me the real story with intimate details, along with her unvarnished opinion of Rose.
No shame: Before going to a gala in Monte Carlo in 1952, Joe and Rose Kennedy posed with Janet Des Rosiers in a strapless gown with, from left, former Boston police commissioner Joseph F Timilty, Joe's lawyer Bartholomew A. Brickley and friend Arthur Houghton. The Kennedy patriarch began his affair with the 24-year-old Des Rosiers in 1948
Looker: Leggy Des Rosiers accompanied Joe to Eze-sur-Mer in southern France in 1954. Here the two had lunch with Gloria Swanson - Joe's ex-lover
At the age of 24, Janet Des Rosiers, who later married and became Janet Des Rosiers Fontaine, had a creamy complexion, green eyes, brown hair, and gorgeous legs. She never failed to get second glances. In retrospect, Des Rosiers decided, that was what Joe had been looking for in a secretary.
'He was very taken with me,' Des Rosiers recalled in her alluring voice. 'He made up his mind right then I would be his.'
In December 1948, three months after he had hired her as his secretary, Joe seduced her.
Their first encounter was in the two-bedroom house he rented for her in West Palm Beach, about 10 minutes from the Kennedy home in Palm Beach. When Joe came to see her there around 8 one evening, he began kissing and undressing her. She was not surprised. He had begun referring to her quarters as 'our' home. Their affair would last three times longer than Joe's affair with actress Gloria Swanson.
When Joe seduced Des Rosiers, she was a virgin. 'Joe was not surprised that I had not had sex,' she said. 'He taught me everything.'
Des Rosiers understood that Joe could be ruthless, but she never saw that side of him.
'He was fun, he was warm, he was thoughtful, never demanding, very considerate, and very gentle,' she said. 'It wasn't very difficult to fall in love with him. He was very charming. He overwhelmed me.'
Joe and Des Rosiers would meet for assignations in her apartment in Hyannis, in the rented house in West Palm Beach, in Joe's apartment in New York or in Boston, or in Joe's villa when they traveled to the Riviera for the summer. When Joe Kennedy's wife Rose was away, as she often was, Joe would insist that Des Rosiers move into the Hyannis Port home and have sex with him in his bedroom.
All in the family: After taking the Palm Beach Biltmore Special from Palm Beach, Joe and Rose had lunch in 1954 at Hialeah racetrack in Miami with, from left, Joe's sister Loretta, Des Rosiers and Joe's friend Arthur Houghton
'Sometimes, I would just move in for a week or two,' she said. 'The servants assumed what was going on, but they all liked me. I think they were glad because they adored him, and anything that made him happy they approved of.'
Even though Joe was 60 when he and Des Rosiers began the affair, they made love as often as once a day. 'The lovemaking went on for hours,' she said. 'There was joy and ecstasy and laughter and giggles, eating chocolate cake and drinking milk at midnight in the kitchen,' Des Rosiers said.
In June 1952, Joe bought the Marlin, a 56-foot, two-propeller yacht that could reach 32 knots. Most of their lovemaking occurred there, as Frank Wirtanen piloted the boat. Back home, Rose busied herself going to church or writing reminder notes to herself.
'We used to go out on the Marlin many afternoons,' Des Rosiers recalled. 'I'd take the work and Mathilda [a maid] would pack a lunch.' After Joe dictated a few letters, they would have a Dubonnet, then a gourmet lunch. They would repair to Joe's cabin.
Sometimes they swam off a secluded Nantucket beach or went angling for blue fish. Rose hated the boat. She went out on it only once, Des Rosiers recalled.
Des Rosiers concluded that Rose was aware of Joe's affair with her and with others such as Gloria Swanson. She decided that Rose not only tolerated Joe's philandering but approved of it, since it took pressure off her.
'She must have known I was around all the time and not unattractive,' Des Rosiers said. 'I used to massage Joe's scalp and neck with Rose in the living room...I don't know what she thought her husband was made of.'
In 1953, Des Rosiers and wife Rose accompanied Joe to Hialeah racetrack, in which Joe owned an interest
Des Rosiers recalled that midway through their affair Joe, Rose, and some of Joe's friends were having lunch in the dining room in Hyannis Port. Des Rosiers was in her office off the living room, but she could hear Rose's shrill voice.
'I heard Mrs. Kennedy say, 'Men always fall in love with their secretaries.' She said it in a way so that I didn't feel any reference to me,' Des Rosiers said. 'She didn't say it with any malice. Then Joe got a very important telephone call. When he entered my office, I said jokingly, "Oh, oh, the jig's up." The man absolutely fell apart laughing. He roared out loud.'
Joe called Rose 'Mother.' He never confided in Des Rosiers what he thought of their marriage. 'I never heard him be impolite or raise his voice with her,' Des Rosiers said. 'There was no undercurrent of hostility. He seemed to respect her. They got along well, like friends. In that way, the household was amicable.
'It wasn't a normal husband-and-wife relationship. I think they had given that up a long time ago, including sex. I don't think he loved her.' In fact, they rarely kissed, and then only on the cheek.
Des Rosiers was annoyed by Rose's habit of pinning notes to herself. When Rose hassled her servants, it upset her. 'Mrs. Kennedy carried a little paper pinned to her chest, and she went from room to room looking for things that had to be done or improved upon,' Des Rosiers recalled. For example, she would write that a cushion had to be recovered or an old magazine had to be discarded.
'She believed that every free moment of your life had to be occupied with learning or work,' Des Rosiers said. 'She would be having lunch with her grandchildren, and it was like a school. Rose didn't walk into a room to relax and enjoy the setting. It was to make a note of this or that has to be done.'
Rocking the boat: Janet Des Rosiers and Joe often had sex on Joe's yacht, the Marlin
Janet loved being on the Marlin with Joe. Rose had no interest in being on the boat
Rose had a penurious streak, which often found expression in how she treated the servants.
'Did you pay her for that hour? She didn't work that hour,' Rose would tell Des Rosiers, who was paymaster as well as secretary and mistress.
'Rose was penny-wise and pound foolish,' she said. 'She would spend millions on her dresses over time, and then get upset at me if a servant was paid for an hour he didn't work.'
On a trip to France, Rose berated Des Rosiers because she had bought too many boxes of facial tissues and rolls of toilet paper to be used once they got there. 'She would pick on the help,' Des Rosiers said. 'If you're a good Christian woman, you should be compassionate toward those who serve you night and day.'
Most of all, Rose seemed concerned about her looks. She would often run around the house with a cosmetic mask on her face.
One afternoon, Joe's chauffeur was driving Joe, Rose, and Des Rosiers in Joe's Rolls-Royce in Vence in the south of France. 'We drove to Matisse's Chapel,' Des Rosiers said. 'She put a black mask over her eyes so her face muscles could relax.
'This was really beautiful scenery, which she missed.'
At the same time, Rose constantly practiced her French, using language records. Her accent remained dreadful.
Given how much time she was away from the Hyannis Port home, Des Rosiers concluded that Rose did not like to be there. 'She was at Palm Beach a lot in the winter,' she said. 'But she went to Paris a couple of times a year or to Vienna or Switzerland, always by herself. Then she went to see her mother in Boston.'
When Jack Kennedy ran for president, Des Rosiers became the stewardess and a secretary on his presidential campaign plane. On the plane, Des Rosiers often massaged Jack's feet and hands behind closed doors. JFK was married to Jackie Kennedy
When Rose was away, Janet, shown here posing
Backpage Ts Austin
Milf Mindy
Tampa Transexual

Mistress Janet

Report Page