Since we're talking about royalty and all, we might as well talk about a wonderful hoax from the early 1800s. That is the imposture of Princess Caraboo.
In 1817, a strangely dressed and seemingly confused young lady was found wandering the English countryside. She spoke no English. Now at the time in Britain, because of the Napoleonic wars, foreigners were treated with extreme suspicion. Fearing that the girl was a Corsican spy, she was brought before the Overseer of the Poor in Bristol, who in turn brought her to the local magistrate, a Mr Worrell. Mrs Worrell took an interest in the young lady and invited her to stay at her home, Knoll Park.
The Worrells soon deduced that the girls name was Caraboo, but they could not understand anything that she said. Finally, a sailor came along who claimed her could speak her language. Apparently, Caraboo was a royal princess from the island of Javasu. She had been kidnapped by pirates, but she managed to escape from them near England. She had swum to shore through the Bristol Channel.
Well, imagine the Worrells' excitement! They had a real live princess on their hands! What's more, a beautiful, exotic princess who fenced, used a bow and arrow, and swam naked in the lake. For almost three months that corner of Britain was captivated by the "savage princess". That is, until her former boss showed up.
A Mrs Neale saw a picture of Princess Caraboo in the newspaper. She immediately recognized her as Mary Baker, a former servant, who had often entertained the Neale children with her made up languages. The Worrells very kindly paid for Mary's passage to Philadelphia, where it is said she attempted the same hoax again, with no sucess. She eventually returned to England and made guest appearances (really!) from time to time as Princess Caraboo. She died in 1865. But the world has not forgotten the servant girl from Dover who pulled one over on the upper middle classes in England. One can only imagine how much fun she had pulling off such a sucessful hoax.
4 comments:
I didn't realize that was a true story!
If you wanna you can bring the movie over on Thurs and we'll have the lord and master make his special popcorn!!!!
Why, that sounds lovely dear! I'll plan on it!
There's nothing more frightening than "special" popcorn.
Mr P's special popcorn, if it be the popcorn I have sampled on previous visits, is indeed delicious.
As with most good cooks, the less one knows about the ingredients used, the better it is for the eater. However, if he's putting any of his soy-based junk in, I'm afraid I'll have to abstain.
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