Louise Renée de Penancoët de Kérouaille (1649-1734), mistress of Charles II of England and Duchess of Portsmouth. First arriving at Charles's court to offer condolences after the death of his sister Henrietta Anne, the Duchess of Orleans, she became his mistress in 1671. As a Catholic advocating strong ties to the French Court of Louis XIV, she was regarded with suspicion by the English people. Nell Gwynne, another of Charles's mistresses called her 'Squintabella' and when mistaken for her, replied "Pray good people be civil, I am the Protestant whore."
Upon his death, she retired to a petition in France. She had one son by Charles, Charles Lennox (1672-1723), created Duke of Richmond (1675).
External links
Portraits of Louise de Keroualle (http://www.nzartmonthly.co.nz/ward_001.html)
Louise Renee de Penancoet deKeroualle (Duchess of Portsmouth and Aubigny) was born in September 1649.
Her parents were Guillaume de Penancoet conte deKeroualle and Marie-Anne (nee de Ploeuc).(3) Louise first met Charles II when she went to England in the Spring of 1670.
Louise may have commissioned the painting as she would have been interested in promoting her new-found standing in society and expressing the power that ultimately went with that position.
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