Penelope Cooke

Penelope Brudenell, Countess of Cardigan (born Penelope Anne Cooke; 14 February 1770 – 2 February 1826), was the wife of Robert Brudenell, 6th Earl of Cardigan. She served as a Lady of the Bedchamber to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom. was a staff officer in the army during the Peninsular war and later became adjutant to Prince Frederick, Duke of York. Another brother, George Cooke, was in the Grenadier Guards, and a third, Edward, was killed in action during the French Revolutionary Wars.

Marriage and issue Portrait of Countess Howe by Margaret Sarah Carpenter, 1834.

Penelope married Robert Brudenell, MP, on 8 March 1794 at St. George's, Hanover Square, London. The marriage occurred despite the objections of Robert's uncle who opposed the wedding on the grounds of her lack of title and money. After their wedding, the couple moved to Buckinghamshire where they lived at the Manor in Hambleden, and where they were known as Mr. and Mrs. Brudenell, and not by their titles; Penelope occupied herself with the village and its school. one of their descendants was the famous Poppy Baring of the Bright young things, Lady Elizabeth Anne Brudenell (c. 1796–1824), who married twice: first to the Hon. John Perceval, son of Charles George Perceval, 2nd Baron Arden, by whom she had children, and second to Reverend William John Brodrick, 7th Viscount Midleton, by whom she had no children Lt.-Gen. James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan (16 October 1797 including Lord Alington, a notorious slum landlord in the East End of London, Lady Mary Brudenell (1806–1867), who married Henry Thomas Pelham, 3rd Earl of Chichester, and had children; Lord Chichester ordered the Charge of the Light Brigade, Lady Anne Brudenell (1809–1877), who married Field Marshal George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan, and had children

Her only son, James, who succeeded his father as Earl of Cardigan, had a career in the military. It was said by contemporaries at the Barracks in Cork that he had a domineering manner as a result of having grown up in a predominantly female family. His brother-in-law ordered the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade, while he led it.

Biography On 12 August 1817 she hosted a birthday party for the Prince Regent at their country estate of Cardigan House on Richmond Hill. She borrowed part of the estate of the Duke of Wellington for the purpose. The scene was later the subject of a painting, Richmond Hill on the Prince Regent's Birthday, by the artist Turner.

In 1818 the countess was a lady of the bedchamber to Queen Charlotte. Queen Charlotte died in the same year. The countess died at Gopsall, Nottinghamshire, aged 55.