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

Jennifer Lawrence
Lawrence at the 83rd Academy Awards, February 27, 2011
Born	Jennifer Shrader Lawrence (1990-08-15) August 15, 1990 (age 21) Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2006–present

Jennifer Shrader Lawrence^[1] (born August 15, 1990) is an American film and television actress. She had lead roles in TBS's The Bill Engvall Show and in the independent films The Burning Plain and Winter's Bone, for which she received nominations for the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Satellite Award, and the Screen Actors Guild Award. At age 20, she was the second youngest actress ever to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She is also known for playing Mystique in X-Men: First Class. In 2012, Lawrence achieved wider recognition starring as the heroine Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, an adaptation of Suzanne Collins' best-selling novel of the same name. Her performance in the film garnered her notable critical praise and marked her as the highest grossing action heroine of all time.^[2][3] Lawrence's performances thus far have prompted Rolling Stone to define her as "the most talented young actress in America."^[4]

Early life[link]

Lawrence was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, and has two older brothers. Her parents are Karen (née Koch), who runs a children's camp, and Gary Lawrence, who once owned a concrete construction firm, Lawrence & Associates.^[5][6][7] She acted in local theater^[8] and, by the age of 14, had decided to pursue an acting career, persuading her parents to take her to New York City to find a talent agent. Prior to finding success in Hollywood, Lawrence attended Kammerer Middle School. She graduated from high school two years early with a 3.9 average in order to begin a career in acting.^[5][9] While growing up and in between acting, Lawrence served as an assistant nurse at the children's summer day camp that her mother ran.^[10]

Career[link]

Early work[link]

Lawrence had never taken any drama classes/lessons for acting.^[5] She started out her acting career in the TBS comedy The Bill Engvall Show, playing the eldest daughter of Lauren Pearson. Written and created by Bill Engvall and Michael Leeson, the show is set in a Denver suburb and follows the life of 'Bill Pearson' (played by Engvall), a family counselor whose own family could use a little dose of counseling. The series went on the air in September 2007 and was canceled in 2009 after three seasons. Lawrence received the Young Artist Award for Outstanding Young Performer in a TV Series for her role in the show.

Lawrence had guest-roles in the television series The Devil You Know, Cold Case, Medium, and Monk.^[11]

In 2008, she appeared in a small role in the film Garden Party as Tiff. It was directed by Jason Freeland. The same year, Lawrence appeared on the big screen in Guillermo Arriaga's film directorial debut The Burning Plain, opposite Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger. Her performance in the film earned her the Marcello Mastroianni Award for best young emerging actor/actress at the Venice Film Festival in 2008.^[12]

Still in 2008, Lawrence had the lead role in another film director's debut, Lori Petty's family drama The Poker House, opposite Selma Blair and Chloë Moretz, where she starred as Agnes, a young girl victim of abuse.^[13] Lawrence was awarded the Los Angeles Film Festival for Outstanding Performance for her role in the film. She appeared in the music video for the song "The Mess I Made", from the 2009 album Losing Sleep by Parachute.

2010–present[link]

Lawrence's lead role in Debra Granik's Winter's Bone, which won best picture at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010, is generally cited as a breakout performance for her.^[14] She portrays Ree Dolly, a seventeen-year-old in the Ozark Mountains who cares for her mentally ill mother and her younger brother and sister. Ree then discovers that her father put their house and land up as a bond for a court appearance before he disappeared, and the family now faces eviction.^[15] The performance was highly acclaimed by film critics. David Denby, writing in The New Yorker, said "the movie would be unimaginable with anyone less charismatic playing Ree."^[16] Peter Travers from the Rolling Stone also spoke highly of her and noted that "her performance is more than acting, it's a gathering storm. Lawrence's eyes are a roadmap to what's tearing Ree apart".^[17] Receiving accolades for her performance, Lawrence was awarded the National Board of Review Award for Best Breakthrough Performance. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress on January 25, 2011, becoming the second-youngest actress to date to be nominated for the category,^[18] and also accrued nominations from the Golden Globe Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, and the Satellite Awards among others.

Lawrence had a role in The Beaver, a dark comedy starring Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson that was filmed in 2009, but which spent an extended period of time stalled due to controversies surrounding Gibson. It was released on May 6, 2011. Lawrence co-starred in the independent film Like Crazy, which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and received a wider release by Paramount Pictures.^[19]

On June 18, 2011, it was announced that Lawrence was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In June 2011, she starred as shape-shifting villain Mystique alongside James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender in X-Men: First Class,^[20] a prequel to the rest of the X-Men film series and will be reprising this role again in the sequel. Lawrence's Mystique is a younger version of the character played by Rebecca Romijn in earlier X-Men films.

She is also set to star alongside Elisabeth Shue in Mark Tonderai's thriller House at the End of the Street,^[21] which completed filming in 2010 and is in post-production.^[22]

Lawrence was cast in David O. Russell's The Silver Linings Playbook, opposite Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro. She was originally cast to play "O" in the film Savages directed by Oliver Stone, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.

In 2012, Lawrence replaced Angelina Jolie in Susanne Bier's period thriller, The Falling, based on the novel Serena by Ron Rash.^[23][24] She will be playing the role of Serena who learns that she can never bear her husband children and is set out to murder the woman who bore her husband an illegitimate son before their marriage.

[edit] The Hunger Games

In March 2011, Lawrence was offered the part of Katniss Everdeen in the film The Hunger Games, based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins. Despite being a fan of the books, Lawrence took three days to accept the role because she was initially intimidated by the size of the movie and what it may mean for her fame.^[25] She underwent extensive training to get in shape for the role, including stunt training, archery, rock and tree climbing, combat, running, parkour, pilates, and yoga.^[26][27] The film was released on March 23, 2012, and set the record for the third-largest opening weekend of all time, making a record-breaking $152.5 million in three days for a non-sequel film.^[28]

The fact that The Hunger Games emerged as a big box office hit with a female lead represents a dramatic shift for the action film genre because historically, among the "top 200 worldwide box-office hits ever ($350 million and up), not one has been built around a female action star" and for the first time ever, Lawrence contradicts that.^[29] She is currently the highest grossing action heroine.

Though the film generally received positive reviews, Lawrence's strong portrayal of Katniss Everdeen was the most highly praised with Todd McCarthy from The Hollywood Reporter saying Lawrence embodies Katniss, "just as one might imagine her from the novel" and "anchors" the whole film "with impressive gravity and presence", ultimately calling her "the ideal screen actress".^[30] Kenneth Turan from the Los Angeles Times stated that Lawrence is the "best possible performer as Katniss and is the key factor in making 'Hunger Games' an involving popular entertainment with strong narrative drive that holds our attention".^[31] Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert also agreed that "Lawrence is strong and convincing in the central role".^[32]

Lawrence will start filming the film adaptation of the second novel in the The Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire, this summer, which is scheduled to be released on November 23, 2013.^[33]

Personal life[link]

Lawrence lived in New York City for the first few years of her career, but now resides in Santa Monica, California.^[5] She likes to paint, knit sweaters and scarves, surf, and play the guitar.^[34][35] She has been dating English actor Nicholas Hoult since 2011.^[36]

Filmography[link]

References[link]