Pepita Tudó, la "amiga" de Manuel Godoy a la luz de la correspondencia privada de 1817-1820

Abstract

This paper was written based on the private correspondence among Josefa Tudó, familiarly known as Pepita and her intimate friend, Manuel Godoy, ex-prime minister who was a favourite of Charles IV and of his wife Queen Maria Luisa, from 1817 through 1820. The aim of my paper is to describe those issues of the Pepita’s life which have been neglected so far by the historians, although they are mentioned in the private letters. Pepita is shown in different roles: as a woman, a diplomat, a talented manager, an enlightened and sociable person – definitely much more than the “household angel” stereotype of the XIX century. The author analyses also the sentimental relationship among Pepita and Godoy, who finally got married in 1829 in Rome, after Maria Teresa de Borbón y Vallabriga, the Godoy’s first wife, had died.