former suitor, Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy, also declared himself her protector. As a result, Hortense retired to Chambéry in Savoie and established her home as a meeting place for authors, philosophers, and artists. After the death of the duke, though, she was turned out by his widow, Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours, due to Hortense's romantic involvement with her husband. With the exception of Marguerite de Valois, Hortense and her sister, Marie Mancini, were the first women in France to put their memoirs into print. Both women were partly motivated by the help that producing a body of evidence would bring to the cause of separation from their abusive husbands. Their Memoirs were first published in French, but Hortense Mancini's were translated into English by 1676. Charles II After the death of Savoy, Hortense had no source of income; her husband froze all of her income, including the pension from Louis XIV. The English ambassador to France, Ralph Montagu, aware of Hortense's desperate situation, enlisted her help in increasing his own standing with Charles II. He hoped she would replace the king's current mistress, Louise de Kerouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth. Hortense was willing to try. In 1675, she travelled to London under the pretext of a visit to her young niece, Mary of Modena, the new wife of Charles II's younger brother, James, Duke of York. Hortense was dressed as a man; her penchant for cross-dressing is thought by some historians to be an outward expression of her gender neutrality. The publication of an English translation of her Memoirs had made her known to English society prior to her arrival. Maîtresse en titre By mid-1676, Hortense had fulfilled her purpose; she had taken the place of Louise de Kerouaille in Charles's affections. He provided her a pension of £4,000, which considerably lightened her financial troubles. Montagu recounted: I went to see Madame de Portsmouth [Louise de Kerouaille]. She opened her heart to me… explained to me what grief the frequent visits of the King of England to Madame de Sussex [Hortense Mancini] cause her every day. Fall from favour This state of affairs might have continued had it not been for Hortense's promiscuity. She was dubbed 'the Italian Whore' in England. Firstly, there was her almost certainly sexual relationship with Anne, Countess of Sussex, the king's illegitimate daughter by the Duchess of Cleveland. This culminated in a very