Equestrian portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares by Diego Velázquez.

A favourite (British English^[1]), or favorite (American English), was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In medieval and Early Modern Europe, among other times and places, the term is used of individuals delegated significant political power by a ruler. It is especially a phenomenon of the 16th and 17th centuries, when government had become too complex for many hereditary rulers with no great interest or talent for it, and political constitutions were still evolving. The period 1600-1660 saw particular successions of all-powerful minister-favourites in much of Europe, particularly in Spain, England, France and Sweden.^[2] The term is also sometimes employed by conservative writers who want to avoid terms such as "royal mistress", or "friend", "companion" or "lover" of either sex. Several favourites had sexual relations with the monarch (or their spouse), but the feelings of the monarch for the favourite covered the full gamut from a simple faith in the favourite's abilities, through various degrees of emotional affection and dependence, to sexual infatuation.

The term has an inbuilt element of disapproval, and is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "One who stands unduly high in the favour of a prince", citing Shakespeare:"Like favourites/ Made proud by Princes".^[3]

Rises and falls of favourites[link]

The Duke of Buckingham, a classic "mushroom", by Rubens

Favourites inevitably tended to incur the envy and loathing of the rest of the nobility, and monarchs were sometimes obliged by political pressure to dismiss or execute them; in the Middle Ages nobles often rebelled in order to seize and kill a favourite. Too close a relationship between monarch and favourite was seen as a breach of the natural order and hierarchy of society. Since many favourites had flamboyant "over-reaching" personalities, they often led the way to their own downfall with their rash behaviour. As the opinions of the gentry and bourgeoisie grew in importance, they too often strongly disliked favourites. Dislike from all classes could be especially intense in the case of favourites who were elevated from humble, or at least minor, backgrounds by royal favour. Titles and estates were usually given lavishly to favourites, who were compared to mushrooms because they sprang up suddenly overnight, from a bed of excrement. The King's favourite Piers Gaveston is a "night-grown mushrump" (mushroom) to his enemies in Christopher Marlowe's Edward II.^[4]

Their falls could be even more sudden, although after about 1650, executions tended to give way to quiet retirement. Favourites who came from the higher nobility, such as Leicester, Lerma, Olivares, and Oxenstierna, were often less resented and lasted longer. Successful minister-favourites also usually needed networks of their own favourites and relatives to help them carry out the work of government - Richelieu had his "créatures" and Olivares his "hechuras".^[5] Oxenstierna and William Cecil, who both died in office, successfully trained their sons to succeed them.

The favourite can often not be easily distinguished from the successful royal administrator, who at the top of the tree certainly needed the favour of the monarch, but the term is generally used of those who first came into contact with the monarch through the social life of the court, rather than the business of politics or administration. Figures like Thomas More, William Cecil and Jean-Baptiste Colbert, whose accelerated rise through the administrative ranks owed much to their personal relations with the monarch, but who did not attempt to behave like grandees of the nobility, were also often successful. Cardinal Wolsey was one figure who rose through the administrative hierarchy, but then lived extremely ostentatiously, before falling suddenly from power. In the Middle Ages in particular, many royal favourites were promoted in the church, English examples including Saints Dunstan and Thomas Becket; Bishops William Waynflete, Robert Burnell and Walter Reynolds. Cardinal Granvelle, like his father, was a trusted Habsburg minister who lived grandly, but not really a favourite, not least because his career was mostly spent away from the monarch.

Some favourites came from very humble backgrounds: Archibald Armstrong, jester to James I of England infuriated everyone else at court but managed to retire a wealthy man, unlike Robert Cochrane, a stonemason (probably a senior one, more like an architect than an artisan) who became Earl of Mar before the Scottish nobles revolted against him, and hanged him and other "low-born" favourites of James III of Scotland. Olivier le Daim, the barber of Louis XI, acquired a title and important military commands before being executed on vague charges brought by nobles shortly after his master died, without the knowledge of the new king. It has been claimed that le Daim's career was the origin of the term, as favori (the French word) first appears around the time of his death in 1484. Privado in Spanish was older, but was later partly replaced by the term valido; in Spanish both terms were less derogatory than in French and English.^[6]

Such rises from "menial" positions became progressively harder as the centuries progressed; one of the last families able to jump the widening chasm between servants and nobility was that of Louis XIV's valet, Alexandre Bontemps, whose descendants, holding the office for a further three generations, married into many great families, even eventually including the extended royal family itself. Queen Victoria's John Brown came much too late; the devotion of the monarch and ability to terrorize her household led to hardly any rise in social or economic position.

Decline of the favourite[link]

Cardinal Richelieu, one of the most successful from the golden age of the favourite

In England, the scope for giving political power to a favourite was reduced by the growing importance of Parliament. After the "mushroom" Buckingham was assassinated by John Felton in 1628, Charles I turned to Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, who had been a leader of Parliamentary opposition to Buckingham and the King, but had become his supporter after Charles made concessions. Strafford can therefore hardly be called a favourite in the usual sense, even though his relationship with Charles became very close. He was also from a well-established family, with powerful relations. After several years in power, Strafford was impeached by a Parliament now very hostile to him. When this process failed, they passed a bill of attainder for his execution without trial, and put enough pressure on Charles that, to his subsequent regret, he signed it, and Strafford was executed in 1641. There were later minister-favourites in England, but they knew that the favour of the monarch alone was not sufficient to rule, and most also had careers in Parliament.

In France, the movement was in the opposite direction. On the death of Cardinal Mazarin in 1661, the 23-year-old Louis XIV determined that he would rule himself, and not allow the delegation of power to ministers that had marked the previous 40 years. The absolute monarchy pioneered by Cardinal Richelieu, Mazarin's predecessor, was to be led by the monarch himself. Louis had many powerful ministers, notably Colbert heading the Finances, and Louvois the Armies, but overall direction was never delegated, and no subsequent French minister ever equalled the power of the two Cardinals.

The Spanish Habsburgs were not capable of so much energy, but when Olivares was succeeded by his nephew Luis de Haro, the last real valido, the control of government into a single pair of hands was already weakened.

Favourites in literature[link]

Prince Grigori Potemkin

Favourites were the subject of much contemporary debate, some of it involving a certain amount of danger for the participants. There were a large number of English plays on the subject, amongst the best known being Marlowe's Edward II, in which Piers Gaveston is a leading character, and Sejanus His Fall (1603), for which Ben Jonson was called before the Privy Council, accused of "Popery and treason", as the play was claimed by his enemies to contain allusions to the contemporary court of James I of England. Sejanus, whose career under Tiberius was vividly described by Tacitus, was the subject of numerous works all around Europe.^[7] Shakespeare was more cautious, and with the exceptions of Falstaff, badly disappointed in his hopes of becoming a favourite, and Cardinal Wolsey in Henry VIII, he gives no major parts to favourites.^[8]

Francis Bacon, almost a favourite himself, devoted much of his essay On Friendship to the subject, no doubt writing with some care as a rising politician under Elizabeth I:

"It is a strange thing to observe, how high a rate great kings and monarchs do set upon this fruit of friendship, whereof we speak: so great, as they purchase it, many times, at the hazard of their own safety and greatness. For princes, in regard of the distance of their fortune from that of their subjects and servants, cannot gather this fruit, except (to make themselves capable thereof) they raise some persons to be, as it were, companions and almost equals to themselves, which many times sorteth to inconvenience. The modern languages give unto such persons the name of favorites, or privadoes .... And we see plainly that this hath been done, not by weak and passionate princes only, but by the wisest and most politic that ever reigned; who have oftentimes joined to themselves some of their servants; whom both themselves have called friends, and allowed other likewise to call them in the same manner; using the word which is received between private men."^[9]

Writing of George III's old tutor, the Earl of Bute, who became Prime Minister, Macaulay wrote in 1844: "He was a favourite; and favourites have always been odious in this country. No mere favourite had been at the head of the government since the dagger of Felton had reached the heart of the Duke of Buckingham".^[10]

Some famous favourites[link]

Bust of Antinous from Patras, (National Archaeological Museum of Athens)

The execution of Hugh, the younger Despenser, from a manuscript of Froissart.

Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough wearing the symbol of her office and authority: the gold key. Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1702^[11]

Manuel de Godoy, Príncipe de la Paz, portrait by Goya.

• Biblical characters with many elements of the favourite are David (of Saul) and Joseph (of Pharaoh).
• Jiru, favourite of Gaozu of Han in China (2nd century BC)
• Sejanus, favourite of Tiberius, who executed him in 31.
• Cleander, freedman favourite of Commodus, who executed him in 190.
• Antinous, favourite of Emperor Hadrian, d. 130.
• Ibn Ammar came to the attention of the Muslim ruler of the taifa of Seville through his poetry and skill at chess, but tried to seize part of the kingdom for himself, and was strangled personally by his monarch in 1086.
• Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall, possibly the lover of Edward II of England, was given high office, including being Regent when Edward went abroad, but was executed after capture by rebels in 1312.
• Hugh the younger Despenser, also possibly the lover of Edward II, was captured and killed in a rebellion led by Edward's Queen in 1326.
• Álvaro de Luna executed in 1453 after pressure from the nobility of Castile
• Robert Cochrane, favourite of James III of Scotland, taken by a cabal of nobles led by Archibald "Bell the Cat" Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus and hanged along with his confederates from Lauder bridge.
• Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester favourite of Elizabeth I of England for 30 years, rumoured lover and long-term candidate for her hand; also a leading patron and statesman. He was succeeded by his rasher stepson Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex who was executed in 1601 after an abortive coup.
• "Les Mignons" ("the Darlings"), a group of favourites of Henry III of France
• Francisco Goméz de Sandoval y Rojas, Duke of Lerma, died 1625, the first "valido", a semi-official title for Spanish favourites. Ran Spain for 20 years before falling from favour and being replaced by Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel, Count-Duke of Olivares who ran Spain for a further 20 years.
• Charles de Luynes in France, the mignon of Louis XIII, arranged the murder of the Queen Mother's favourite Concino Concini in 1617. Concini owed his favour to his wife's close relationship with Marie de' Medici.
• George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, very influential politically and assassinated in 1628, was favourite to both James I and his son Charles I of England. James, who had been effectively orphaned as a baby, and was probably homosexual, was very prone to dependency on favourites, although whether sexual activity took place remains unclear. Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox, 37 to James' 13 when they met, was forced into exile by opponents, and eventually succeeded by Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset; despite titles and wealth, both ended unhappily.
• Axel Oxenstierna ran the government of Sweden, very successfully, for over 40 years until his death in 1654, when his son took over.
• Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars in France, executed in 1642 after leading a conspiracy against his rival and patron Cardinal Richelieu, who governed France for 18 years.
• Cardinal Mazarin, governed France for almost 20 years until his death in 1661; Louis XIV's public decision that he would thence forward "govern alone" marked the end of the golden age of the favourite.
• Corfitz Ulfeldt became son-in-law to Christian IV of Denmark before trying to kill him, and then defecting to Swedish service.
• Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin, a transitional figure as a protegé of Charles II of England who also had a successful career in Parliament.
• Marie-Anne de la Trémoille, princesse des Ursins (died 1722) through force of character enjoyed extraordinary power successively in the courts of France, Spain and the English Jacobite exiles.
• Constantine Phaulkon, Greek first counsellor of King Narai of Ayutthaya, his influences over the King led to the Siamese revolution of 1688.
• Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, domineering friend of Queen Anne of Great Britain, eventually supplanted by her cousin Abigail Masham, Baroness Masham.
• Alexander Menshikov, lifelong best friend of Peter I of Russia, came from the most humble origins and attained enormous power, not least after the Tsar's death, when he was de facto ruler for two years until he was banished to Siberia.
• Johann Friedrich Struensee in Denmark, the royal doctor, who ran the government of the schizophrenic Christian VII whilst having an affair with the Queen, before being executed in 1772.
• Heshen, who amassed an enormous fortune during the latter part of the reign of Chinese emperor Qianlong.
• Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin (died 1791) was the lover of the Empress Catherine II of Russia for two years, but continued to have enormous power in the government for a further fifteen.
• Platon Alexandrovich Zubov was the last favourite of the Empress Catherine II of Russia who later took substantial part in the murder of her son and heir.
• Marie-Louise, princesse de Lamballe (died 1792) was the dear friend of Marie-Antoinette and stayed faithful to her until the very moment of her gory death.
• Gabrielle de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac (died 1793) was the favourite of the last queen of France, Marie-Antoinette, and one of the few women that King Louis XVI liked and trusted.
• Manuel de Godoy, whose unpopularity led, along with Napoleon's dynastic ambitions, to the abdication of Charles IV of Spain in 1808, after which Godoy spent over 40 years in exile.
• Grigori Rasputin, Mystic favourite of the last Royal Family of Russia, murdered in 1916

Mistresses[link]

• Hong Yu, favourite of Emperor Hui of Han
• Margaret Erskine, mistress of James V of Scotland and mother of James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray
• Louise de La Vallière, mistress of Louis XIV of France, succeeded by Madame de Montespan
• Madame de Maintenon refused to become the mistress of Louis XIV, and became his second, morganatic wife.
• Madame de Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV of France
• Madame du Barry, later lover of Louis XV of France, guillotined during the French Revolution
• Mary Boleyn, one of the many mistresses of Henry VIII, sister of his second wife Anne Boleyn and cousin to his fifth wife Katherine Howard.

See also[link]

• Cardinal-nephew

Notes[link]

References[link]

• J.H. Elliott and LWB Brockliss, eds, The World of the Favourite,1999, Yale UP, ISBN 0-300-07644-4

Taio Cruz
Background information
Birth name	Jacob Taio Cruz
Born	(1983-04-23) 23 April 1983 (age 29) London, England, UK
Genres	Pop, dance
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, record producer, rapper, entrepreneur
Years active	2002–present
Labels	Rokstarr Entertainment Division, Island, Republic, Mercury (U.S.)
Associated acts	Kesha, Kylie Minogue, Ludacris, David Guetta, Cheryl Cole, McFly, Travie McCoy, Flo Rida
Website	TaioCruzMusic.co.uk

Jacob Taio Cruz (born 23 April 1983) known professionally as Taio Cruz^[1] (Portuguese: [ˈtaj.ju ˈkɾujʃ]) is an English singer-songwriter, record producer, occasional rapper, and entrepreneur.^[2] In 2008, he released his debut album Departure, which Cruz wrote, arranged and produced himself. It achieved initial success in the United Kingdom and earned him a MOBO Award nomination. In June 2010, Cruz released his follow-up album Rokstarr, which includes the number one singles "Break Your Heart" and "Dynamite". Cruz has collaborated with Kesha and Fabolous on the single "Dirty Picture", as well as Kylie Minogue and Travie McCoy on his single "Higher". Additionally, Cruz penned and recorded the song "Telling the World" as the lead single from the soundtrack to the 2011 animated film Rio.

Biography[link]

Early life and career beginnings[link]

Cruz was born in London, to a Nigerian father and a Brazilian mother called Beatriz Vitoria Olivera Bennati^[2], from Rio de Janeiro.^[3] He attended Bilton Grange, a private prep school in Rugby, Warwickshire.^[4]

Cruz began writing songs when he was 12. His songwriting career began at age 19 as part of Tricky Stewart's writing collective, RedZone Entertainment.^[5] Cruz achieved notability in 2005 when he was awarded a BRIT Award for co-writing Will Young's 2004 single, "Your Game".^[6] Cruz is the founder and chief executive of Rokstarr Music London, which in 2006 released his debut single "I Just Wanna Know". The single attracted significant attention from radio, and also from music industry insiders, who were already well aware of the artist's potential; manager Jamie Binns, who began representing Cruz at this time, later told HitQuarters: "He was a guy that everyone had earmarked to do damage in the future."^[7] Although the single received a reasonable amount of radio airplay, it did not perform as well as expected in either territory.^[7] However, rather than lose faith in Cruz, the labels were eager to negotiate an album deal, as by this time they had listened to his other songs and were ever more convinced by his capability.^[7]

Cruz's admirers included Island Records's Darcus Beese and \sex Monte Lipman, who, according to Binns, "both believed 'I Just Wanna Know' fitted the format on both sides of the Atlantic."^[7] In 2006, Cruz signed a split single deal with Universal Music Group companies, Republic Records and the UK branch of Island Records.

[edit] 2006–2008: Departure

Taio Cruz released his second single "Moving On" in September 2007 haö

which made the top 30 in the UK. In March 2008 his next single, "Come On Girl," featuring Luciana, peaked at No. 5 on the UK charts. The related album Departure appeared on 17 March and peaked at No. 17.[8][9] This was followed by the single "I Can Be," which reached No. 18 in May. On 18 August, "She's Like a Star" was released, which was a remix of the previous single and featured American rapper Busta Rhymes and girl-group Sugababes. The remix later appeared on the Sugababes studio album Catfights & Spotlights, which peaked at No. 20. It was later revealed that Cruz narrowly missed out on the chance to record the song "Umbrella" which was eventually recorded by Rihanna and ended up topping charts around the world.[5]

[edit] 2009–2011: Rokstarr, international breakthrough and The Rokstarr Collection

Cruz was featured on Tinchy Stryder's breakout single "Take Me Back" which peaked at No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart. According to Cruz's official Myspace blog, as of 1 January 2009, Rokstarr Music London officially changed its name to Rokstarr Entertainment Division and abbreviated to R.E.D Inc.^{[citation needed]} During 2009, he worked on his follow-up album entitled Rokstarr.^[10] It was released on 12 October through R.E.D Inc/Island Records and is entirely written and produced by Cruz, with co-writes and co-productions predominantly with UK producer Fraser T. Smith. The album's lead single "Break Your Heart" was released on 14 September and reached number one in the UK, where it stayed for three weeks.^[8] The success of the song attracted the attention of David Massey and Daniel Werner from Mercury/Island Def Jam who were excited and aggressive about releasing "Break Your Heart" in the US on their label.^[7] According to Cruz's manager Jamie Binns, the relationship with Monte Lipman at Universal Republic had "gone a bit quiet" by this point and as Taio wanted to be with the label that was most enthusiastic about his music, a move from Universal Republic to Mercury/Island Def Jam was engineered.^[7]

The single reached the top spot in the U.S. for one week on the Billboard charts.^[11] In an interview with The Guardian, it was stated that "Cruz was clever to have hooked up with a US rapper Ludacris on his breakthrough hit".^[12] In order to introduce Cruz into the US market, David Massey had suggested that the single feature an American rapper with chart credibility.^[7] The album spawned two other UK singles, "No Other One", and the top-ten hit "Dirty Picture" featuring American electropop singer Kesha. The album's fourth single (second in the US) titled "Dynamite" debuted at 26 ^[11] and despite peaking at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100, "Dynamite" peaked at number 1 on U.S. top 40 earning Cruz his second US number 1 record.

Rokstarr was followed by the compilation album The Rokstarr Collection which includes songs both from Departure and the international version of Rokstarr.^[13] Cruz later released four versions of his single "Higher" - one featuring Kylie Minogue, one featuring Travie McCoy, one featuring both, and one with just himself. Cruz has also been featured on the soundtrack of American reality TV series Jersey Shore.^[14]

[edit] 2011-present: TY.O

In March 2011, Cruz premiered an all-new song, entitled "Telling the World", which was written by Cruz and Alan Kasiyre for the Rio soundtrack. The track was not featured on any of Cruz's prior studio albums.^[15] On 23 May 2011, Cruz received his first billboard award in the United States, and announced live on stage that his third album would be released in the fourth quarter of 2011, and would be entitled Black and Leather.^[16] In June 2011, Cruz released a collaborative single, "Little Bad Girl", with French DJ David Guetta and American rapper Ludacris. The song was a worldwide smash, topping singles charts across the world.^[17] During July and August 2011, a series of unreleased songs, recorded during the album sessions, were leaked to YouTube. in an interview, Cruz promised a "fun" and "energetic" album, and claimed that due to the leak, none of the tracks posted on YouTube would be included on the album. Cruz claimed, "It's a shame really, because one person has spoilt it for all the fans. They could have had an album packed with 17, 18 tracks, and now, they're only getting eleven because of one stupid act of tomfooolery."^[18] During the interview, Cruz also claimed that the title of the album had been changed, and the album was now entitled Troublemaker, after one of the tracks included on the album. On 4 October 2011, the single "Hangover" was officially released in Germany and the United States, and it was rumoured that a solo version of the song, that features on the physical release, would be included as a bonus track on the album. However, these rumours were later quashed.^[19]. Around October 2011, the album was made available for pre-order, and as such, the album's final title, TY.O, was revealed. Cruz, via his Twitter account, made the decision to name the album TY.O after he expressed his annoyance at people constantly pronouncing his name wrong. The album was first released in Germany on December 2, 2011. It will be released in the United Kingdom on December 31, 2012. It was going to release in the US on May 17, 2012, but, now it has yet to be released.

Writing and production[link]

Cruz has written songs on albums by Cheryl Cole, JLS, The Saturdays, The Wanted and David Guetta. Cruz wrote and featured on Tinchy Stryder's hit single "Take Me Back". Pop rock band McFly recorded "Shine a Light" which not only features, but was also penned and produced by Cruz for their fifth studio album.^[20] 2011 will see him writing for Justin Bieber's next album.^[21] Jennifer Lopez's 2011 single "I'm Into You", featuring Lil Wayne, is also penned by Cruz. He also contributed significantly to David Guetta's fifth album Nothing but the Beat, penning two of his hit singles "Without You", featuring Usher and "Little Bad Girl", featuring Cruz himself and Ludacris.

Other ventures[link]

Rokstarr brand[link]

On 1 September 2009, Cruz launched the brand Rokstarr; the fashion and accessories brand has a focus on sunglasses. Musicians & Artists such as Kanye West, Shontelle, Keri Hilson, Steves Peeps and Kelly Rowland have been seen wearing them. Speaking in October to R&B writer Pete Lewis, Cruz stated: "There's a load of US celebrities that are all rocking the sunglasses already – Kid Cudi, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West... Then in the UK we have The Saturdays, JLS, Daniel Merriweather – who've all been twittering and writing on their blogs how much they love them. So yeah, it's definitely my new album 'Rokstarr' and the fashion brand that are my two main focuses at the moment."^[22]

Meanwhile, speaking again to Lewis in April 2010, Cruz revealed: "We're currently looking to expand the brand and possibly go into things like watches. I've also got a new subsidiary of Rokstarr called 'Rok By Rokstarr'. And we've just started doing things like jeans and T-shirts, and stuff that more of the fans of Taio Cruz can buy. Because with Rokstarr in itself being so expensive, a lot of the kids out there who want to buy Rokstarr things can't. So we're bringing in stuff that's a little bit more High Street and more affordable."^[23]

Discography[link]

• Departure (2008)
• Rokstarr (2009)
• TY.O (2011)

Awards and nominations[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (April 2011)

References[link]