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On the London stage in the late eighteenth century, Dora Jordan was a star, probably the greatest comic actress the British theatre has ever known. Seductive and vivacious, as delightful off-stage as on, she was adored by the public and high society alike. Then, in 1791, she attracted the attentions of Prince William, the Duke of Clarence, third son of King George III, who eventually prevailed upon her to live with him.
For more than twenty years, in spite of the attacks of caricaturists and satirists, she was a loyal and loving mate, bearing him ten children, helping to pay his debts out of her earnings as an actress, acting for all intents and purposes as his wife.
Under pressure from the royal family and moved by his own ambitions, William abandoned her. For Dora, thrown out of her house, estranged from her children, it was a disaster; she was to die in poverty and loneliness in 1816. And while William evidently regretted the loss of the happiness he had known with her, he went on to marry a German princess and take the throne as King William IV in 1830. When his biography was published in 1884, Dora's name did not even appear in it.
Claire Tomalin has here retrieved from obscurity a fascinating and important figure. She also offers us insight into an era. For Dora Jordan's tragedy, growing as it did out of the collision and interweaving of two worlds - the rough and colorful world of the Georgian theatre where she was at home, and the glittering world of the court and the aristocracy, increasingly shadowed by the pall of convention that would define Victoria's reign - is a vivid reflection of historical change.
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Previews available in: English
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Great BritainEdition | Availability |
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1
Mrs. Jordan's Profession: The Actress And The Prince
August 18, 2000, Books on Tape, Inc.
Audio Cassette
0736655662 9780736655668
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2
Mrs. Jordan's profession: the actress and the prince
1995, Alfred A. Knopf
in English
- 1st American ed.
0679410716 9780679410713
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3
Mrs. Jordan's profession: the story of a great actress and a future king
1994, Viking
in English
0670841595 9780670841592
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Book Details
Edition Notes
Includes bibliographical references (p. 381-[389]).
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- Created October 31, 2008
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August 18, 2010 | Edited by IdentifierBot | added LibraryThing ID |
April 16, 2010 | Edited by bgimpertBot | Added goodreads ID. |
April 13, 2010 | Edited by Open Library Bot | Linked existing covers to the edition. |
December 15, 2009 | Edited by WorkBot | link works |
October 31, 2008 | Created by ImportBot | Imported from University of Toronto MARC record |