LADY HESTER STANHOPE

The incredible life of 
Lady Hester Stanhope
began when she was 
born in 1776
as the daughter of an 
earl.
Her uncle William Pitt 
became Prime Minster
in 1804.
She grew up surrounded
by great splendour at
their family seat at 
Chevening in Kent.
Later on, she went to 
live with her uncle at Walmer Castle.

When her uncle became Prime Minster, she moved with him to 10 Downing Street because he was a bachelor. She managed his household and hosted political dinners. Hester soon felt at home in the middle of high society and made soon a name for herself with her knowledge of politics and social topics.

Hester wasn't known for being an outstanding beauty yet her intelligence and quick wit made her attractive. Amongst her many suitors was the philanderer Lord Granville Leveson Gower who jilted her. It must have been very traumatic for her and her family because of the way of thinking and opinion of society in those days.

After the death of her uncle she had a number of disappointing love affairs and personal tragedies. One was Sir John Moore, British commander-in-chief in Iberia. He was killed at La Coruna in 1808. Then one of her brothers was killed in the same campaign.

Hester decided to sail from Portsmouth in 1819 for the Mediterranean. She was accompanied by her physician Dr Charles Meryon. In Gibraltar. There she met the good looking Michael Bruce who was a 20-year-old Scot. He was brought up in India and travelled through Europe on a Grand Tour. Hester soon was absolutely overwhelmed by him and they became lovers. Dr Meryon was not impressed by Bruce; he might have wanted her to be in love with himself. They travelled to Constantinople. Hester was carried from the harbour in a sedan chair. This instant made her fall in love with the Orient.

She stated: "If they were to give me £100,000 to live among the boot-wiping silly people of England, I would not do it. Here, if I sit under a tree and talk to a camel driver, at least I hear good sense."

Soon she went to Egypt and from there to the Holy Land. There she started to dress as the locals but as a man. She had worn a shirt, waistcoat and pantaloons. She tucked a pistol and a knife in her sash and worn a turban with wild flowers put there. She did look a bit unusual. She demanded the respect of the tribes of the lands, she travelled through. Hester was also known to be able to swear in three dialects at her mule-drivers.

Her knowledge of local customs and politics became very comprehensive. She was admired by local potentates and foreign emissaries. However, her life centred on her friendship with Emir Bashir. He was the leader of the Druze community in the Lebanese mountains above Sidon.

Emir Bashir was not a gentleman, by all means. He blinded his three nephews and strangled the prime minister. However, in Hester’s eyes he never did anything wrong. Even Dr Meryon remarked that these things hardly count in these countries.

While the gossip about her affair with Bruce was running wild in London; Hester planned her trip to Damascus. At that time the inhabitants were very hostile against Europeans. She rode into the city dressed in all her finery. She faced the locals and took Damascus by storm.

Hester's confidence grew and she went to the ancient city of Palmyra. It was once ruled by Zenobia, the legendary warrior queen. In a well organized ceremony and accompanied by a vast retinue, she rode down the main avenue to the sound of Bedouin drums. Afterwards, Hester stated that she was crowned Queen of the desert. However, it proved to be her last great show.

From there on she went from place to place, in Lebanon. She became more and more unsettled and also eccentric. Hester also became very unpredictable. Soon she broke off with Bruce and began an affair with her Arabic gardener. Continuous wars in the area and huge debts started to catch up with her because she led an extravagant lifestyle. Eventually, Dr Meryon also left her because of her non-stop dreams and exaggerations.

LADY HESTER STANHOPE'S
RESIDENCE

Hester became obsessed with astrology and alchemy but was a lonely figure in her 36-room stone palace, Dar-es-sitt. She died in 1839, wasting away and penniless.

However, Hester didn't leave it at that. In the Eighties a notice was sent by the Druze militia to London. It stated that they discovered a grave desecrated with the bones and skull scattered and had a rams-head walking stick nearby. It was still known, after almost 150 years, that the walking stick was buried with the English gentle-women.

The British Embassy was informed and in 2004 her ashes were scattered during a ceremony in the Lebanese mountains.

The ruins of her house became a tourists' attraction. Her memory lives on among local people. She has becoming a figure of myth and reality.