What makes for a special relationship? Trust, compromise and a dash of diplomacy ...
Meet Charles and Mary Bagot, the Regency couple who, banished to the mudflows of Washington, went on to lay the groundwork for modern global diplomacy. When it came to the Bagots, the Regency gossips had more than their fill. Their marriage, initially the toast of high society, was marked with scandal and, when rumours of a salacious affair broke, the couple found themselves sent overseas.
Their penance: to work as the first British ambassadors to America at a pivotal moment in the new nation’s history. But despite their misfortune the Bagots thrived in their new environment. Their innate gift for politics, culture and social affairs was a tonic to Anglo-American tensions and the couple went on to emerge as leading diplomats of their day, first in the United States and later in both Russia and Canada.
In her captivating and meticulously researched book The Rebel and the Peacemaker, historian Geraldine Roberts draws on years of research and exclusive access to the Bagot family papers to tell a sweeping story of love, scandal and diplomacy. With 2026 marking 250 years of American Independence, what better time to celebrate the extraordinary lives of this remarkable couple?
