Famous for being famous

Mary Robinson: actress, poet, novelist, playwright, feminist and London bus. One could wait over a century for a biography of her and then three come along at once. Had London buses existed in Robinson’s lifetime, contemporary satirists would have leapt at the analogy, as it was widely believed that anyone who could afford the fare could have a ride. Robinson was best known not for her thespian or her literary talents, but for being a grande horizontale, most notably as the first mistress of the Prince of Wales (later George IV).

Mary Robinson was born Mary Darby somewhere between 1756 and 1758 (the first of many characteristic obfuscations) and, at around the age of 15, married inadvisedly. Both she and her husband had little in common above being strangers to economy and soon had money problems which induced Mr Robinson to turn a blind eye (if not an abetting hand) to his wife’s succession of lovers bearing gifts.