1-626-241 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Mary Robinson (1757-1800), English poet and novelist, 1830. Robinson was also known for her role as Perdita (heroine of Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale) in 1779. It was during this performance that she attracted the notice of the young Prince of Wales, later King George IV of Great Britain and Ireland. Her affair with him ended in 1781, and Perdita Robinson was left to support herself through an annuity granted by the Crown (in return for some letters written by the Prince) in 1783 and through her writings. Today, she is remembered both as the first public mistress of George IV and as a woman writer of the late 18th century.