Elizabeth, Countess de Gramont

Elizabeth Hamilton entered the world in 1641 within the Hamilton family line, carrying blood from Scottish nobility and Old English Butlers before she ever touched a foreign court. She became la belle Hamilton at Whitehall, then a lady-in-waiting to Maria Theresa of Spain under Louis XIV, moving through permission, favour and visibility rather than birthrank alone. Her brother Anthony placed her inside his memoirs, while Peter Lely fixed her face among the Windsor Beauties, proving that a woman from Ireland could become memorable in London and Paris.