The British Spy's Notebook: "A Very Black Complexion"

Forgotten empires. Erased rulers. Untold history.

What did the lords of Britain actually look like?

Not in the portraits painted to flatter them, but through the eyes of a man whose job was to watch them.

That man was John Macky, a Scottish secret agent who served King William and Queen Anne. At the direction of Princess Sophia of Hanover, heir to the British throne, he drew up short written portraits of the nobles, ministers, and officers she would one day rule. Each one is a few lines long: family, politics, temper, and then, almost always, the face.

His son Spring Macky published them in London in 1733 as Memoirs of the Secret Services of John Macky, Esq. I have been reading the second edition, page by page. Here is what the spy wrote down.

The Master of the Horse

Charles, Duke of Somerset, "Of the Antient Family of Seymour," served Queen Anne as Master of the Horse. Macky's verdict:

"He is of a middle Stature, well Shaped, a very Black Complexion, a lover of Musick and Poetry" (p. 17)

The Sons and Grandsons of King Charles II

This is the page that stopped me. Charles, Duke of St. Albans, was the son of King Charles the Second by Nell Gwyn. Macky writes:

"He is of a Black Complexion, not so tall as the Duke of Northumberland, yet very like King Charles." (p. 40)

On the very same page, Charles Fitzroy, Duke of Grafton, "Grandson to King Charles the Second":

"A tall Black Man, about Twenty-five Years old." (p. 40)

And four pages earlier, another royal son, Charles Lennox, Duke of Richmond, "Son to King Charles the Second, by the Dutchess of Portsmouth":

"Very credulous, well Shaped, Black Complexion, much like King Charles; not Thirty Years old." (p. 36)

Two sons of the King, by two different mothers. Both black of complexion. Both, in Macky's words, like their father.

The Earls & Cabinet

Thomas Tufton, Earl of Thanet:

"A thin, tall, black, red-faced Man, turned of sixty Years old." (p. 80)

Directly below him, Edward Montague, Earl of Sandwich:

"A tall, thin, black Man, about thirty-five Years old." (p. 80)

Turn two pages and you meet Richard, Earl of Ranelagh, Paymaster General:

"He is very fat, black, and turned of sixty Years old." (p. 82)

"Like a Spaniard" & "Moorish Complexion"

Some of Macky's sketches go even further:

• Daniel, Earl of Nottingham, Secretary of State: "In his Habit and Manners very formal; a tall, thin, very black Man, like a Spaniard or Jew, about Fifty Years old." (p. 26)
• Mr. Methuen, Ambassador to Portugal: "In his Complexion and Manners, much of a Spaniard; a tall, Black Man, Fifty Years old." (p. 143)
• Sir Stafford Fairborne, Vice Admiral: "He is very brave, much of a Man of Honour... is fat, swarthy, of a moorish Complexion, towards fifty Years old." (p. 171)

The Scots

Macky was a Scot, and the Scottish nobility received the exact same documentation:

• The Earl of Orkney: "A very well shaped black Man; is brave" (p. 162)
• The Marquis of Annandale: "Tall, lusty, and well shaped, with a very black Complexion" (p. 185)
• The Duke of Queensberry: "Thin, of a black Complexion" (p. 180)
• Lord Belhaven: "A rough, fat, black, noisy Man, more like a Butcher than a Lord" (p. 236)

Why This Book Matters

Macky was not writing for public consumption or modern debate. He was writing a private intelligence briefing for a future Queen so she would know exactly who she was dealing with. He had no reason to flatter and every reason to be precise. When he saw a fair man, he wrote fair. When he saw a black man, he wrote black.

This is how the court of Queen Anne looked to the secret agent paid to record it.

Read the spy's notebook yourself

The full second edition is scanned and free to read today:

Read Macky's Memoirs (1733)

Open it to page 40. Then hit reply and tell me which character surprised you most.

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