The Windsor beauties are a famous collection of paintings by Sir Peter Lely, painted in the early to mid 1660s.
They were originally housed in the Queen's bedchamber in Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...

 (hence the name Windsor Beauties). They can now be seen at Hampton Court Palace

Hampton Court Palace

Hampton Court Palace is a royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, Greater London; it has not been inhabited by the British royal family since the 18th century. The palace is located south west of Charing Cross and upstream of Central London on the River Thames...

.

The original set of "Beauties" painted by Lely include, depending on the source:

• Barbara, Duchess of Cleveland (née Villiers)
  Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland
  Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland was an English courtesan and perhaps the most notorious of the many mistresses of King Charles II of England, by whom she had five children, all of which were acknowledged and subsequently ennobled...
  
  
• Frances, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox (née Stuart)
  Frances Stewart, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox
  Frances Teresa Stewart, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox was a prominent member of the Court of the Restoration and famous for refusing to become a mistress of Charles II...
  
  
• Mrs. Jane Myddleton (née Needham)
• Elizabeth, Countess of Northumberland (née Wriothesley)
  Elizabeth Percy, countess of Northumberland
  Elizabeth Percy, Countess of Northumberland was a British courtier.She was one of the Windsor Beauties, painted by Sir Peter Lely.-Family:...
  
  
• Elizabeth, Countess of Falmouth (née Bagot)
  Elizabeth, Countess of Falmouth
  Elizabeth, Countess of Falmouth was a British courtier. She was one of the Windsor Beauties, painted by Sir Peter Lely.-Family:Her father was Col. Henry Bagot, and mother was Dorothea Arden. She married Charles Berkeley, 1st Earl of Falmouth in 1663. He died at the Battle of Lowestoft. She then...
  
  
• Elizabeth, Lady Denham (née Brooke)
• Frances, Lady Whitmore (née Brooke)
  Hon. Frances Brooke
  Hon. Frances Brooke was a British courtier.She was styled Hon. Frances Brooke, and then Lady Frances Whitmore.She was granted the style of a daughter of a baron....
  
  
• Henrietta, Countess of Rochester (née Boyle)
  Henrietta Hyde, Countess of Rochester
  Henrietta Hyde , Countess of Rochester was an English noblewoman. She was one of the Windsor Beauties, painted by Sir Peter Lely....
  
  
• Elizabeth, Countess de Grammont (née Hamilton)
  Elizabeth, Countess de Grammont
  Elizabeth, Countess de Grammont was a British courtier and a French lady in waiting. She was one of the Windsor Beauties, painted by Sir Peter Lely. She was Dame du Palais to Maria Theresa of Spain....
  
  
• Anne, Countess of Sunderland (née Digby)
• The Countess of Ossory  (Melville omits this name, citing Ernest Law that the portrait previously identified by this name is actually Lady Falmouth.)
• Madame Henrietta, Duchess of Orléans
  Princess Henrietta of England
  Henrietta Anne of England & Scots was born a Princess of England and Scotland as the youngest daughter of King Charles I of England and his consort Henrietta Maria of France. Fleeing England with her governess at the age of three, she moved to the court of her first cousin Louis XIV of France,...
  
  

Anne Hyde

Anne Hyde

Anne Hyde was the first wife of James, Duke of York , and the mother of two monarchs, Mary II of England and Scotland and Anne of Great Britain....

, Duchess of York, does not figure in the above list of ten; but since she was largely responsible for the collection (and choosing the sitters), she was also painted as part of the collection. Possibly a little flattery from Lely was responsible for this.

The portraits for the first ten names are included at the Royal Collection website as "probably commissioned by Anne Hyde, Duchess of York."

See also

• Hampton Court Beauties
  Hampton Court Beauties
  The Hampton Court Beauties are a series of portraits by Sir Godfrey Kneller, commissioned by Queen Mary II of England depicting the most glamorous ladies from the court of William III. They adorn the state rooms of King William III at Hampton Court Palace...
  
  , a later set by Sir Godfrey Kneller
  Godfrey Kneller
  Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet was the leading portrait painter in England during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and was court painter to British monarchs from Charles II to George I...
  
  .
• Gallery of Beauties
  Gallery of Beauties
  The Gallery of Beauties is a collection of 36 portraits of the most beautiful women from the nobility and middle classes of Munich, Germany, painted between 1827 and 1850 and gathered by Ludwig I of Bavaria in the south pavilion of his Nymphenburg Palace in Munich...
  
  , a still later set in Munich
  Munich
  Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
  
  .

External links

• Works by Sir Peter Lely at the Royal Collection website
• The Windsor Beauties: Ladies of the Court of Charles II by Lewis Melville. Loving Healing Press, 2005. ISBN 193269014X, ISBN 9781932690149