Dorothea Jordan Dorothea Jordan Dorothea Jordan (22 November 17615 July 1816) also known interchangeably as Mrs Jordan, and previously Miss Francis or Miss Bland, was an Anglo-Irish actress, courtesan, and the mistress and companion of the future King William IV of the United Kingdom, for 20 years while he was Duke of Clarence. Together they had ten illegitimate children, all of whom took the surname "FitzClarence". Dorothea (often called Dorothy or Dora) Bland was born near Waterford, Ireland, on 22 November 1761, and was baptised at St Martin in the Fields, Middlesex, on 5 December of that year. She was the third
English and British royal mistress English and British royal mistress In the English court, a royal mistress was a woman who was the lover of the King. She may have been taken either before or after his accession to the throne. Although it generally is only used of females, by extrapolation, the relation can cover any lover of the monarch whether male or female. To date no English reigning Queen is known to have had a lover. Monarchs had an incentive to take mistresses in that they generally made dynastic marriages of convenience, and there was often little love in them. Beyond the physical relationship,