I did some study on the mistress of the Duke of Kent who was Queen Victoria's father. This mistress, with whom he lived for 23 to 27 years (reports on her are various, including her name) had a mother from the House of Colonna, which I found wonderful and fascinating--she had an ancient descent! This mistress's records were either kept secret or falsified in later years, and those of her children with the Duke of Kent are even more mysterious. She and the Duke are reported to have had anywhere from zero to seven illegitimate children. But reports I read (some time ago) said that at least one of them was Robert Woods, who was given into the care of the Duke's employee from Kent, Robert Woods. Robert Woods is recorded in Mormon records as having married Charlotte Grey, daughter of Earl Grey (they were not Mormons but the Mormons keep great genealogy records of everyone whose name they can find). I researched these people because I have a Woods ancestor in Kent--I believe that the Robert Wood I found was a generation off from the supposed ancestor of the Duke of Kent and "Madame," so I quit trying to find more information on these people.
However, the descent of "Madame" from the House of Colonna interested me much more than the descent of the Duke of Kent. How exciting to be a Colonna, of the House which produced popes, poets, and politicians for many centuries?
If you look online or in books you will find that information on the Duke's mistress is SO varied that nothing may be assumed to be true de facto. Her "real name" was probably Therese de Montgenet, from France, but she was often called by a false name of Madame de St. Laurent, or Julie de St. Laurent.
However, the descent of "Madame" from the House of Colonna interested me much more than the descent of the Duke of Kent. How exciting to be a Colonna, of the House which produced popes, poets, and politicians for many centuries?
If you look online or in books you will find that information on the Duke's mistress is SO varied that nothing may be assumed to be true de facto. Her "real name" was probably Therese de Montgenet, from France, but she was often called by a false name of Madame de St. Laurent, or Julie de St. Laurent.