Elizabeth Craven

Elizabeth Craven
Elizabeth, Baroness Craven, Later Margravine of Anspach, circa 1780–1783, by Ozias Humphry
Born	17 December 1750 England, UK
Died	13 January 1828 Posilipo, Italy
Occupation	Writer, socialite
Nationality	British
Period	1778–1826
Subject	Travel writing, drama, memoirs

Elizabeth Craven (née Lady Elizabeth Berkeley) (17 December 1750 – 13 January 1828), Princess Berkeley (though often styled "Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach"), previously "Lady Craven" of Hamstead Marshall, was an author, playwright, traveller, and socialite, perhaps best known for her travelogues. She was the third child of the 4th Earl of Berkeley, born near the site of the later Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster

Early in her literary career she wrote a number of light farces, pantomimes, and fables, many of which were performed in London to no great acclaim. She knew Samuel Johnson and James Boswell, and became a close friend of Horace Walpole, who published her early works which, with later efforts, include:

Very few of her musical compositions survive:

Her life was full of scandal: after thirteen years of marriage, seven children, and affairs reported on both sides, she and her first husband, William Craven, 6th Baron Craven, (married since 30 May 1767), parted permanently in 1780. Thereafter she lived in France and travelled extensively on the Continent.

For a number of years she maintained a romantic relationship with Charles Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach. His wife since 1754, Princess Friederike of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, died in Germany on 18 February 1791, and Lady Craven's husband died in Lausanne on 26 September 1791. The couple then married in Lisbon on 30 October 1791 and settled in England. While the Margravine was snubbed by ladies mindful of their reputations, as well as by her latest husband's cousin, King George III himself, and as well as by Queen Marie-Antoinette when she visited France, the couple lived a full and opulent life in Hammersmith, London, and Benham Park at Speen in Berkshire.