beau–brummell:Bridget Holmes (1591-1691) was a domestic servant at theEnglish royal court during the

beau–brummell:Bridget Holmes (1591-1691) was a domestic servant at theEnglish royal court during the 17th century. As a “necessary woman”,her jobs included cleaning the royal apartments and emptying and scouringchamber pots. She lived through the reigns of seven monarchs (Elizabeth I,James I, Charles I, Charles II, James II, William III and Mary II), the age ofShakespeare, the age of discovery and the age of revolution. She served five ofthe Stuart monarchs (Charles I, Charles II, James II, William III and Mary II)and was considered to be a bit of a fixture at the court. She was sowell-respected and regarded with affection, as a lady of great age and of greatloyalty to the Stuart kings, that James II commissioned this portrait of her in1686, probably painted by John Riley and John Closterman; an extravagantcommission but one certainly to James’ credit as this is one of the firstpre-eighteenth century portraits of a working class person. In this portrait,Holmes teasingly brandishes her mop at a Page of the Backstairs, and the set-upof the portrait treats her with great dignity. Bridget died in 1691, at the age of 100. One of the longestserving royal servants in history, she is buried in Westminster Abbey and thereis a monument noting the monarchs under which she dutifully served. Thisportrait now resides in the state apartments of Windsor Castle. -- source link

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