Coventrys and St.Johns by Mark Crispin Powell

In 1751 the 'Gunning sisters' joined the London 'season' and soon became the talk of the town. Maria, eighteen and Elizabeth seventeen, were considered to be great beauties, although Maria was the one most talked about.

Elizabeth was first to marry in 1752. The Duke of Hamilton promised marriage if she would prove her love in the way he wanted. Elizabeth held out and the impatient duke married her with a curtain ring at 12.30 in the morning, at the Mayfair Chapel, a place 'notorious for its less than respectable marriages'.

Maria's marriage soon followed to the Earl of Coventry, on 5 March, three weeks after her sister. Too late Coventry worried about his wife's flirtatious nature, a problem made more difficult by the attention she attracted in London. By 1753 public adoration had died down and Maria became bored and her husband's attempts to manage her behaviour led her to embark upon an affair with Frederick St.John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke. For a while she thought they might even marry; Coventry had considered divorce in 1756. Bolingbroke's aunt was terrified the marriage might take place. Both misjudged Bolingbroke's affection for Maria. According to Lady Kildare he was 'frightened out of his wits' at the prospect.

Coventry tried to mend his marriage when Maria became pregnant, and in April 1758 she gave birth to a son, Coventry now had his heir, although if he was the father was uncertain. Bolingbroke had also married in September 1757, to Lady Diana Spencer. Neither marriage was to have a happy ending.