Queen hester

1. Biography of Lady Hester Stanhope
2. Early Life
3. Life in London and Role as William Pitt's Hostess
4. Travels to the Middle East
5. Adventures in the Middle East
6. Legacy and Archaeological Excavations

Biography of Lady Hester Stanhope

Lady Hester Stanhope was a British aristocrat, socialite, traveler, and adventurer. She was the granddaughter and niece of British prime ministers. Her archaeological expedition in Ashkelon, undertaken in 1815, is considered the first modern example of excavations in the Holy Land. Lady Hester Stanhope utilized medieval Italian documents during her research, which is seen as one of the earliest instances of field archaeologists turning to textual sources for their work.

Early Life

Esther Lucy Stanhope was born on March 12, 1776. She was the eldest child of Charles Stanhope, the 3rd Earl Stanhope, and his first wife, Lady Hester Pitt. Esther was born at Chevening House, her father's estate in Kent, and lived there until the beginning of 1800 when she was sent to live with her grandmother, Hester Pitt, Countess of Chatham, in Burton Pynsent. Her mother passed away in July 1780, shortly after the birth of her third daughter.

Life in London and Role as William Pitt's Hostess

In August 1803, Esther became the hostess at the home of her uncle, William Pitt the Younger, who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Pitt, who was never married, needed a hostess due to his active social life. Lady Hester sat at the head of the table, assisted her uncle in greeting his guests, and engaged in engaging conversations. Her beauty and conversational skills soon made her famous. After Pitt retired in January 1806, Lady Hester became his personal secretary. The United Kingdom rewarded her efforts with an annual pension of £1,200 after Pitt's death in January 1806.

Travels to the Middle East

After spending some time in London, Lady Hester moved to Wales and then, in February 1810, left England permanently following the death of her only brother. It is said that a romantic disappointment strengthened her resolve to embark on a long sea voyage. Among the people surrounding Lady Hester were her doctor and later biographer Charles Meryon, her maid Anne Fry, and Michael Bruce, who became her lover. Rumors suggest that when Lady Hester arrived in Athens, the poet Lord Byron jumped into the sea to greet her. From Athens, they traveled to Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, and planned to go to Cairo, which was recovering from the chaos caused by Napoleon's invasion of Egypt. However, their ship sank near Rhodes. Lady Hester and her companions survived but lost all their belongings.

Adventures in the Middle East

Lady Hester refused to wear a veil and instead chose to dress in men's clothing, including a robe and a turban. When the British frigate brought them to Cairo, Lady Hester bought a robe made of purple velvet, embroidered trousers, saddles, and a sword, and went to meet the Pasha in this attire. She continued her journey through the Middle East, visiting Gibraltar, Malta, the Ionian Islands, Peloponnese, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and even Damascus, where she still refused to wear a veil.

Legacy and Archaeological Excavations

In Jerusalem, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was cleared of visitors and reopened in her honor. A fortune teller predicted that Lady Hester would become the bride of a new messiah. She decided to visit Palmyra, even though the journey passed through a desert inhabited by potentially hostile Bedouins. Lady Hester dressed as a Bedouin and brought a caravan of 22 camels carrying her luggage. She was welcomed by Emir Mahannah el Fadel, and from then on, she became known as the "Queen Hester."

According to Charles Meryon, Lady Hester obtained a medieval Italian manuscript, a copy of records from a Syrian monastery. According to this document, a huge treasure was hidden beneath the ruins of a mosque in the port city of Ashkelon, which had been in ruins for 600 years. In 1815, using this map, Lady Hester went to Ashkelon and convinced the authorities to allow her to conduct excavations, making it the first archaeological dig in Palestine. Although the three million gold coins treasure was not found, workers uncovered a headless marble statue measuring 7 feet in height. Lady Hester ordered the statue to be broken into a thousand pieces and thrown into the sea.

Lady Hester settled near the Lebanese city of Sidon on the Mediterranean coast and lived a secluded life in abandoned monasteries. Her companions, Miss Williams and Dr. Meryon, stayed with her for some time, but Miss Williams passed away in 1828, and Dr. Meryon returned to England in 1831. Lady Hester's home was located eight miles from Sidon, on top of a hill, where she spent the rest of her life. She passed away on June 23, 1839.