Iron fists hide beneath satin gloves; what do secrets hide behind?

Character Name: Lady Wilhelmina Cavendish. It’s a pleasure to meet me, I’m sure.

Gender: I said Lady Cavendish. Whoever you are, I take it you lack formal education. What a pleasant surprise! I suppose even purgatory needs chimney sweeps.

Age: Old enough, child. Watch your tongue. When I told my son I planned to try rebirth, he suggested I was too old to reap the benefits. The nerve! Oscar has always had the nerve of a bull and half as much wit. I’m almost insulted he outlived me.

Physical Appearance: According to my husband, I was quite the beauty when I was young. Many a suitor wrote sonnets about my plush lips and ebony curls, only to fall distracted in praise for their own poetic genius. Perhaps I would’ve been better off marrying one of them instead of accepting his bumbling proposal, but clumsy and useless as he was, he was still Lord Edgar Cavendish! What’s love, compared to such a title? So many women marry for matters so silly as love these days. It’s sad, truly. Who’d have thought that so-called female liberation would lead to cages of our own making?

I was quite the beauty when I was young - ha! Edgar has always been short-sighted, but it’s hard to blame him. I’m surprised he can see anything past that bulging nose of his. I’m still quite the beauty, thank you very much. My body has shed its fragile softness, compacting into a thin, airy frame that radiates strength rather than delicacy. Sure, my face has collected a few wrinkles here and there - what of it? My eyes are still as green, my hair as silky even in its whiteness, my mouth still as soft despite the hardness of its utterances. Find one woman over thirty as beautiful as me. You won’t succeed. Anyone younger than that is a mere child.

Personality: Mother always said I was quite the character, Thomas’s! What will we do with her? She can’t keep her mouth shut long enough to say “I do!” Now there was a woman. It sure came as a shock to her when I married Edgar, but she should’ve known I always get what I want. He never saw it coming. The older he got, the more frail, and the sharper my tongue became. By my death, I was the head of the Cavendish estate in all but name! That honour went to Oscar, weak-willed even in lie. The place must’ve fallen apart once I left, though Oscar insists nothing changed. The boy’s always been a bad liar.

I might’ve been a politician, had I been a man. Britain would’ve run smoother than ever under my reign - Queen Victoria could only dream to achieve what I would have! She did a fine job, of course, as any sensible woman would. It’s hardly her fault she cannot match the superiority with which God blesses me. I’ve always been greater. The world needs a woman like me, don’t you think?

Past: There are more interesting things to speak of, darling. Anyone who dwells on their past has no future to offer. Stop by Thornbury Manor when you have time, and you’ll see all you need to know. The place is an elegy to my person.

Reason to Live: Have you seen the state of the world today? It’s a divided mess ravaged by politics gone absurd. They need a woman with sense to reign their nonsense in.