Favourite
A favourite (British English), or favorite (American English), was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In medieval and Early Modern Europe, among other times and places, the term is used of individuals delegated significant political power by a ruler. It is especially a phenomenon of the 16th and 17th centuries, when government had become too complex for many hereditary rulers with no great interest or talent for it, and political constitutions were still evolving. The period 1600-1660 saw particular successions of all-powerful minister-favourites in much of Europe, particularly in Spain, England, France and Sweden. The term is also sometimes employed by conservative writers who want to avoid terms such as "royal mistress", or "friend", "companion" or "lover" of either sex. Several favourites had sexual relations with the monarch (or their spouse), but the feelings of the monarch for the favourite covered the full gamut from a simple faith in the favourite's abilities, through various degrees of emotional affection and dependence, to sexual infatuation.
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Famous quotes containing the word favourite:
“Ye Cupids, droop each little head,
Nor let your wings with joy be spread:
My Lesbia’s favourite bird is dead,
Whom dearer than her eyes she loved.”
—Catullus [Gaius Valerius Catullus] (84–54 B.C.)
“The big blue eyes are shut which saw wrong clothing
And favourite fields and coverts from a horse;”
—Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984)
“Tea, though ridiculed by those who are naturally coarse in their nervous sensibilities ... will always be the favourite beverage of the intellectual.”
—Thomas De Quincey (1785–1859)