Marguerita elisabeth o’brien: jacobite countess and lady of the spanish monarchy

Abstract

This paper sketches the politic profile of Margaret Elizabeth O’Brien, an example of courtesan and spy on the European royal courts of the middle 18th century, who served the interests of the Hispanic monarchy as an agent of Ensenada and Huéscar in Paris, and those of the Stuart cause, the sacred jacobite cause, since her marriage in 1726 with the count of Lismore. Accepted by Isabel Farnesio on her court, she played the role of Queen’s courtesan. Her correspondence with duke of Huéscar, preserved on the House of Alba archive, is the main source of this work.