Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland

Barbara Palmer, born into the ambitious Villiers family, understood that beauty was a currency and audacity was the key to the vault. As a teenager, she caught the eye of the exiled future king, Charles II, and upon the monarchy's restoration, she installed herself at the center of his court with breathtaking force. She was no hidden paramour; as the Countess of Castlemaine and later Duchess of Cleveland, her power was blatant, political, and deeply resented. She bore the king five children, all openly acknowledged and ennobled, weaving her bloodline into the aristocracy. Her apartments at Whitehall were a hub of patronage and intrigue, and her famous temper could make ministers quake. Immortalized in the sensual, languid portraits by Sir Peter Lely, she became the enduring image of Restoration decadence—a woman who took what she wanted from a king and a country, and whose descendants would shape British history for centuries.