Penhaligon’s The Favourite Review (Aliénor Massenet) 2020 + Royal Bow Draw

March 31, 2020March 31, 2020

Penhaligon’s The Favourite (Photo collage/Digital effects: Despina Veneti)©

“Sometimes a lady likes to have some fun” (Rachel Weisz as Lady Sarah in Yorgos Lanthimos’ 2018 film “The Favourite”)

A hundred and eighteen years after the creation of Penhaligon’s Blenheim Bouquet (the company’s longest surviving fragrance, initially a bespoke scent for the Duke of Marlborough), the venerable British brand has just launched a new perfume that also pays tribute to the monumental Blenheim Palace; specifically to its very first mistress: Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (1660-1744), also known as “The Favourite” for her close relationship to Anne, Queen of Great Britain. Beautiful and charismatic, outspoken and ambitious, but also often cantankerous and scheming, Sarah Churchill (née Jenyns) became a friend of the future Queen when the latter was still a child Princess. Their relationship grew stronger and deeper, as did Lady Sarah’s influence, especially after she became Duchess of Marlborough (through her marriage to distinguished soldier/statesman John Churchill, the 1^st Duke of Marlborough). Letters between the two women reveal traces of intense feelings that have been interpreted by some as indication of possible sexual relations (the 2018 film “The Favourite” made this assumption the core of its intriguing, yet highly fictionalised, script). The fact remains that, for many years, the Duchess of Marlborough was exerting great influence over Queen Anne on both personal, and political level.

First row, Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough & Anne, Queen of Great Britain, in two portraits by Sir Godfrey Kneller & John Closterman, respectively. Second row, Rachel Weisz as Lady Sarah & Olivia Colman as Queen Anne in “The Favourite” (2018, Fox Searchlight)©

The increasingly stormy relationship between Queen and Duchess (the latter was said to be brutally honest to the former, while relentlessly promoting her political goals) eventually became too strained, resulting in Lady Sarah falling out of grace. Her formerly impoverished cousin, Abigail Hill (whom she had employed as a servant in the Royal Palace), became the Queen’s new Favourite, as well as a Baroness. As the Duchess of Marlborough felt her power slip away, she became increasingly desperate in her attempts to regain favour, plotting strategies to oust Abigail, threatening blackmail, and even stirring up rumours that the Queen’s relationship with Abigail was sexual.

Pink wrist scarf (Photo: Clifford Coffin for Glamour Magazine 1951)©

It was while the Duchess was still the Queen’s Favourite that the Blenheim Palace began being built in Oxfordshire, on grounds gifted to the Duke of Marlborough by Queen Anne (who also partially funded its construction) for his notable military services to the nation. Following the final quarrel between the two women, the Marlboroughs went into exile until Queen Anne’s death. Blenheim Palace would be completed under the aegis of the Duchess of Marlborough herself, after her husband’s passing. An ultimate survivor, Sarah Churchill managed the estate and her late husband’s fortune brilliantly, and even had her memoirs published before she died at the age of eighty-four, getting the last word. Her lineage guaranteed a long-lasting legacy in British politics, with descendants such as Winston Churchill (a reported fan of Penhaligon’s Blenheim Bouquet), and Princess Diana.

“The Duchess” (Linda Evangelista photographed by Steven Meisel for Vogue, 2008)©

Composed by perfumer Aliénor Massenet of Symrise, Penhaligon’s The Favourite reflects the charming, appealing, vivacious side of the woman it is inspired by. The fragrance opens with the juiciness of succulent citruses (bergamot, mandarin) and the green sweetness of airy freesias – a combination that carries the aromatic impression of enjoying a cup of tea in an English countryside garden. The fragrance is subsequently colored golden by the radiant mimosa, that adds its unique honey-esque, warm floralcy (supported by whiffs of non-indolic jasmine) to the composition, along with a hazy, powdery aura. The moderate powederiness soon assumes a more seductive, boudoir-like character, aided by a bouquet of irises and violets, as well as the emerging coumarinic undertones of the base – however, the fragrance never loses its bright, ethereal character. A veil of silky musk keeps Penhaligon’s The Favourite in a perpetual state of breezy elegance, even after the creamy/ambery base develops, adding a delightful tone of youthfulness, frivolity, and mischief.

Penhaligon’s The Favourite (Photo courtesy of Penhaligon’s)©

At first a well-mannered, winsome, ambrosial musky/floral, Penhaligon’s The Favourite eventually reveals its intimate powdery undertones, and understated sensuality. To me, this is the fragrance of the young, beautiful and ebullient Sarah that so profoundly charmed Princess Anne, at the time when their friendship was still pure and joyful, unburdened by intense power games and ceaseless political plotting. In “The Favourite” (2018), Queen Anne remarks that Lady Sarah is some days too mean and uncaring, to which the latter replies: “Some days, I’m quite lovely though. Let’s think on them.” Penhaligon’s The Favourite does just that.

Listed Notes: Bergamot, Mandarin, Violet, Freesia; Mimosa, Iris, Jasmine; Indian Sandalwood, Musk, Amber.

Disclaimer: I’d like to thank Penhaligon’s for my deluxe travel spray of Penhaligon’s The Favourite. The opinions are my own.

– Despina Veneti, Senior Editor

Thanks to the generosity of Penhaligon’s, we have a draw for a 100ml bottle of Penhaligon’s The Favourite (value: 164€) for one registered reader in USA or Europe. You must register here or your comment will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what you enjoyed most about Despina’s review of The Favourite, if you have a Penhaligon’s favorite fragrance, and where you live. Draw closes April 4, 2020.

Please join us in congratulating CaFleureBon’s Despina Veneti for her 2020 Perfumed Plume Finalist INSTAPOST for Penhaligon’s Cairo. Despina was a 2019 Perfumed Plume Winner for Mainstream Stories in the Media

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