Intimate companion of a ruler or other important person
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For the 2018 film, see The Favourite. For other uses of "favourite" or "favorite", see Favorite (disambiguation).
Equestrian portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares by Diego Velázquez.
A favourite was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In post-classical and early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated significant political power by a ruler. It was especially a phenomenon of the 16th and 17th centuries, when government had become too complex for many hereditary rulers with no great interest in or talent for it, and political institutions were still evolving. From 1600 to 1660 there were particular successions of all-powerful minister-favourites in much of Europe, particularly in Spain, England, France and Sweden.[1]
The term is also sometimes employed by writers who want to avoid terms such as "royal mistress", "friend", "companion", or "lover" (of either sex). Some favourites had sexual relations with their monarch (or the monarch's spouse), but this was far from universal. Many were favoured for their skill as administrators, while others were close friends of the monarch.
The term has an inbuilt element of disapproval and is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "One who stands unduly high in the favour of a prince",[2] citing Shakespeare: "Like favourites/ Made proud by Princes" (Much Ado about Nothing, 3.1.9[3]).
^Elliott:5, summarising the work of French historian Jean Bérenger
^"favourite". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 23 January 2019. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
^"Much Ado About Nothing 3.1". www.shakespeare-online.com. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
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