Diana's 'bawd' ancestor was Nell Gwynne's lesbian lover

An ancestor of Sir Winston Churchill and Diana, Princess of Wales, may have been a Court pimp and the secret "Madam" of Charles II's mistress, Nell Gwynne, according to a new book out this month.

Frances Thornhurst Jennings, one of the founders of the Spencer-Churchill dynasty, was derided as a "bawd" and a sorceress "conversant with the Demon" in satires written in her own lifetime.

Until now, these descriptions have been largely dismissed as "literary slanders" reflecting the resentment caused by her rise from the ranks of the commoners, and the widespread misogyny of the 17th and 18th centuries.

But a new biography of Jennings's daughter, the first Duchess of Marlborough, says the allegations may have been based on truth. It suggests that, far from being the innocent victim of a smear campaign, she may actually have acted as a guardian and "pimp" to Gwynne, the actress who became King Charles's mistress.

In her book, the Oxford English graduate Ophelia Field draws conclusions about Jennings's murky activities after taking a fresh look at strands of documentary evidence that have long been available to historians.

One of her key sources is a letter written in 1684 by Gwynne to a "Mrs Frances Jennings", who lived "over against the Tub Tavern in Jermyn Street". Addressing the intended recipient as "Madam", she instructs her to arrange for her shopping, as if speaking to a servant or guardian, before ending the letter: "I love you with all my heart and so goodbye."

Many of the satires quoted in the book were viewed at the time as digs at the Duchess of Marlborough, a close confidante of Queen Anne who was rumoured in some circles to be her lesbian lover.

Among the pieces cited is a pamphlet published in 1712, entitled The Perquisiste Monger; or the Rise and Fall of Ingratitude, in which the duchess is described as "a Person of a mean Extraction, but who had by the Subtlety of her Mother, that was a noted humble Servant to the Pleasures of certain Great Men and her own Inclinations, so wormed herself into the Confidence of her Mistress as to be of the highest Esteem with her".

Another, an undated manuscript poem called "The Murmur of the Oak", refers to Jennings as the king's "bawd" at a time when "whoring was no crime". And The New Atalantis, a 1709 satire by Mrs Delarivier Manley, described Jennings as an "immoral old bawd" and a sorceress "conversant with the Demon".

Also quoted is an item of gossip included in a letter written in 1676 by Lady Chaworth to a fellow aristocrat, Lord Roos, which reads: "Sarah Jennings has got the better of her mother, who is commanded to leave the Court and her daughter in it, notwithstanding the mother's petition that she might have the girl with her, the girl saying she is a mad woman."

Ms Field, whose book, The Favourite: Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, is published by Hodder and Stoughton on 20 June, said: "It's true Sarah's mother was attacked mainly as a way to attack the daughter as she and her husband rose to political power, and the attacks are typical of an age where there was rampant misogyny as well as unease about the Marlboroughs' meteoric social rise.

"On the other hand, the sheer number of satires which survive pointing to her mother as linked to Court whores and the fact that, in all the volumes of her manuscript memoirs, Sarah never bothered to clear her mother's name, seems significant. The letter from Nell Gwynne suggests there may have been fire behind the smoke."