The False Princess: Unmasking Royalty – Part 3/7 (1791-1865)
The downside to all the attention – for the so-called Princess Caraboo, anyhow – was that her photo and description was running in all the newspapers… and as it turned out, a woman by the name of Mrs. Neale read a description of the princess in the Bristol Journal – and recognized her immediately. Mrs. Neale ran a lodging house in Bristol, and apparently the “princess” had stayed with her a few months earlier – and had sometimes entertained Mrs. Neal and her daughters by speaking her own made-up language. And to make matters even more convincing… when they last saw her, the young woman had left the house wearing a turban.
Mrs. Neale informed the Worralls of her story, while a second witness also claimed to have met the ‘princess’ several days before she had arrived at the cobbler’s cottage. The man swore that he had eaten steak and had a drink of rum with the woman at a public meeting house! Shocked, Mrs. Worrall confronted Caraboo with the information – and with such secure testimony against her, the girl broke her façade and admitted the truth.
In reality, Princess Caraboo was a cobbler’s daughter from Witheridge in Devon, and was named Mary Baker. Incredulous, Mrs. Worrall was at an impasse for what to do with the girl. If she remained in Bristol, the Worralls would be embarrassed and discredited, and so there was nothing to do but… send the girl to America. On 28 June 1817, Mary and three very religious women whom Mrs. Worrall had asked to care for the young woman set sail for Philadelphia.
Amazingly enough, upon arriving in America, Mary was greeted by throngs of excited people shouting for ‘Princess Caraboo’ – so of course, she willingly gave performances as the princess to all who wished to see it. Her last known letter to Mrs. Worrall was written in November 1817, and after that, she seems to have disappeared for several years. She reappeared in England around 1824, where she attempted to exhibit herself for performances as Princess Caraboo – but to her misfortune, the act was no longer successful.
After traveling to France and Spain, she eventually returned to England and settled in Bristol, giving birth to a daughter in 1829. She managed to make a moderate living for the rest of her years, selling leeches to the Bristol Infirmary Hospital, and eventually died of a heart attack on Christmas Even in 1864: she was 75 years old. Although she lies in an unmarked grave, the location of the burial was in the Hebron Road Burial Ground in Bedminster, Bristol.
Yet the question still remains: how was this young, uneducated girl able to make complete fools of the entire British upper class? Some of these people were highly educated, intelligent individuals, and yet she had managed to fool them all. And perhaps more importantly, why would young Mary Baker ever want to do such a strange thing…?
…to be continued…
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Tomorrow: Part 3
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