The Charming Author's Life Story & Face Revealed | Royalty Now

welcome back to royalty now where we bring you face to face with figures from the past and talk about their history today's subject is Jane Austen she's beloved across the world for her novels which break down barriers especially for women surprisingly her real appearance is a bit of a mystery so we're excited to reveal our Recreations of Jane at the end so let's go ahead and get started [Music] Jane Austen was born on December 16 1775 in a village called steventon to her father Reverend George Austin and her mother Cassandra Lee her father George was a clergyman and a scholar whose love for learning would be passed down to all of his children and her mother Cassandra was an intelligent woman who was famed for being able to make up elaborate stories on the spot just for her family's Amusement no doubt sparking the love of Storytelling for her daughter Jane although the Austin family lived off a very modest income their home was constantly full of visitors many times a year when Jane was growing up they would host their family members who came from all over England including cousins from London who would tell her stories about their travels and their Adventures these stories from the big city inspired Jane they gave her a more worldly view allowing her to imagine the world Beyond her small English Village to entertain their guests the Austin family often acted out plays or told each other stories the plays often comedies were written by her older brother James and after some time by Jane herself the first writing we have by Jane Austen starts when she was only 11 years old when she began to write poems and plays about her life in a small Country Town using people from her own life as inspiration for her characters over the next six years Austin would continue writing and create at least 29 Works originally called volume 1 2 and 3 these works are now called juvenalia [Music] even early on you can already see Jane's realist witty style developing many of the works in juvenilia are parodies making fun of the sentimental novel genre that was extremely popular in Europe during this time now sentimental novels were these over-the-top incredibly wordy books that have an almost Shakespearean feel to them and Jane just thought they were ridiculous they were easy to make fun of they took life way too seriously and they never seemed like they were based off how life really was especially for the women in the stories so in 1793 Jane would write Lady Susan it's a short story that almost felt like it was made despite the idea of the helpless woman only looking for love in Jane's story The heroine Lady Susan Vernon uses her intelligence and charm not for love but to manipulate betray and abuse her lovers friends and family according to scholar Richard Jenkin this time in Jane's life can be described as almost anarchic she created this character that was an Unstoppable selfish woman who couldn't be fooled by love or anything else now whether this was written out of spite or just teenage angst Jane seemed to get it out of her system with this book and she never wrote another story quite like Lady Susan in reality this period of Jane's life is thought to have been very happy for her romantic even she had a very supportive family and friends that she saw often and attended dances with regularly and it was at one of these neighborhood dances that the 20 year old Jane may have met the love of her life Tom Lefroy the Irish nephew of one of her neighbors had just finished his University degree and was getting ready to move to London to study law when he went to visit family in steventon over the holidays from his arrival in early December 1795 through the new year he spent nearly all of his time with Jane we know this because of letters that Jane sent to her older sister Cassandra she says I am almost afraid to tell you how my Irish friend and I behaved imagine to yourself everything most profligate and shocking in the way of dancing and sitting down together only days later Jane would write her sister again with shocking news saying that she expected an offer from her friend and in her typical humor also stated that I shall refuse him however unless he promises to give away his white coat it's safe to Guess that she hated this white coat although she was always one to make a joke you can tell that Jane was legitimately attracted to Tom and had real feelings for him [Music] but sadly before any offer could be made Tom's family intervened and they sent him away to London this cold ending to what seemed to be her first love undoubtedly hurt Jane and went on to change the course of her life Jane had felt what love could be for better and For Worse she would never see Tom again and she would never marry it was that year in 1796 the Jane would write her first full-length novel called Eleanor and Marianne which would later become Sense and Sensibility when you read the book knowing what had just happened to her with Tom you can see that she took so much inspiration from her own life the two main characters seem to be a reflection of Jane's own self before Tom she is Marianne who believes in love and wears her heart on her sleeve and after Tom she is Eleanor who knows how harsh love can be and chooses to become cautious in love to protect herself from it it's clear that Jane's writing becomes a form of therapy for her and she puts a lot of her own thoughts and emotions down on paper expressing them through her characters even the interactions between characters feel real they are imperfect and they don't feel scripted the awkward little moments where both characters know what they want the other to say but neither character has the courage to happen just like in real life you can relate to her characters because you know that feeling you've been there you know the thoughts racing through their heads it's this ability to give her character such genuine thoughts and emotions that makes her characters feel so real and almost timeless not long after Sense and Sensibility was finished Jane wrote her second novel called First Impressions which would later be called Pride and Prejudice when she read it out loud to her family as she did with all of her writing Pride and Prejudice quickly became a family favorite in fact Jane's father was so impressed with her work that he began to send out letters to Publishers hoping to get his daughter a book deal unfortunately his letters were ignored but he never told Jane about his failed attempts for the next two years Jane would revise and edit her Works making them closer to what they are today and continuing to develop her comedic Style but soon her life took a turn that she hadn't expected in 1800 her father George Austin suddenly decided to retire and he moved the family 50 miles away to Bath Stevenson had always been home to Jane and it had inspired many of the settings of her books but now she was leaving the only home she had ever known as a history Creator my brain loves living in the past but somewhere I don't love living in the past is in my kitchen we have a lot of skills in our household but sadly cooking just isn't one of them today's sponsor hellofresh makes it so easy to prepare and eat delicious healthy meals the recipes arrive at your doorstep and are pre-portioned with clear directions that only have a few steps the nice thing about these pre-portioned ingredients is that it cuts down on food waste by 23 percent compared to grocery shopping which is great for how much money we've been spending on groceries these days and much better for the planet ingredients also travel from the farm to your home in less than seven days so you know they're fresh we eat mostly vegetarians so I love how much variety we have to choose from when picking our meals and the cleanup takes like half the time see how much time and hassle you can save this summer by trying hellofresh for yourself head to hellofresh.com and use the code royaltynow50 for 50 off plus your first box chips free that's hellofresh.com and use the code royalty now 50. little is known about the next three years of her life her sister Cassandra who she sent many letters to during this time and throughout the rest of her life burned nearly all of their correspondence what is known is that Jane did little to no writing once she moved to Bath it may have been because she was unhappy or maybe because she just had more to occupy her time and bath but whatever the reason there are no completed works from this time in her life in 1803 after years of trying Jane Austen was finally able to sell the rights to one of her works Crosby and Company paid her the equivalent of nine hundred dollars today for the book that would become Northanger Abbey but they would never publish the book furiating Jane so in 1804 after a nearly four-year Hiatus Jane began writing a novel called The Watsons about a poor and disabled clergyman and His Four unmarried daughters sadly before its completion her father George Austin suddenly died on January 21st 1805. her dear father who had instilled in her the love of reading created a loving and supportive home and was undoubtedly one of the main reasons why Jane had the wit humor and self-confidence to write for herself was gone his loss left a family not only devastated but also in a horrible financial position although her brothers promised to support them financially they now had no home this is at a time when women didn't work outside the home they were completely reliant on their fathers brothers or husbands to care for them for the next few years the family had to bounce around from place to place renting in bath then visiting family in steventon and other small towns and only staying for months at a time they would have to keep doing this for three long years until finally in 1809 her brother Edward was able to offer Jane her sisters and her mother a place to settle at a cottage in chattan finally feeling at home again Jane's creativity seemed to creep its way back and she could once again focus on her writing after years of uncertainty she was able to truly finish Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice with all of their edits now during this time in England women didn't just become authors full-time it simply wasn't done a woman's role in the family was seen as a mother and a wife and for them to try to do anything else was almost taboo so when a woman did publish a book they usually had to do it anonymously Austin would do just that with the help of her brother Henry Sense and Sensibility a book in three volumes written by a lady was advertised and published in the winter of 1811. the book began to sell immediately and eventually made Jane 140 pounds the equivalent of nearly eleven thousand dollars today this money allowed Jane and her family to finally get back on their feet it also allowed her to relax and let her comedic Spirit shine [Music] buoyed by her first success she published her second novel Pride and Prejudice by the author of Sense and Sensibility Pride and Prejudice began to spread amongst the social Elite in England and it soon became the book of the season young Aristocrats became obsessed with her realistic portrayal of country life and the look that Austin gave them into the lives of women it painted a picture of their thoughts when they were alone their insecurities and the feelings they kept all to themselves when she published Mansfield Park in 1814 it became her biggest financial success [Music] although she was still Anonymous this must have been the greatest time in Jane's life since she left Steven tin almost 15 years before she was an established author with second editions being printed for her books and her Works were being read far and wide with translations beginning to circulate in France but in November of 1815 one of her fans found out who she was and asked her to come over for dinner the prince Regent of England who would later become King George IV was one of Jane Austen's biggest fans with a set of all of her books at every single one of his residences in fact it was just recently discovered in the Royal Archives of Windsor Castle that King George IV may have been the first person to buy a Jane Austen novel in 1811 two whole days before the book was even advertised the prince Regent bought a copy of Sense and Sensibility for 15 Shillings leading historians to believe that he was in fact Jane Austen's first fan now being the Super Fan that he was the prince Regent had his librarian strongly hint to Jane that she should dedicate her next book to him without much of a choice Jane would of course oblige and when she released Emma in December of 1815 its first page was dedicated to the Future King of England to his Royal Highness the prince Regent this work is by his Royal highness's permission most respectfully dedicated by his Royal highnesses dutiful and obedient humble servant Emma would sell well and it appeared that Jane was on top of the world with all of the success that Jane had enjoyed in such a short time it would be easy to think that Jane and her family were finally set financially but unfortunately 1816 would not be a kind year to Jane you see the way that published books worked back then was that all unsold copies of your books were yours to pay for in February of 1816 Jane published the second edition of her book Mansfield Park but it sold terribly to offset the failure Jane had to use most of her earnings to pay back the publisher later that year her brother Henry who had been helping them live fell terribly into debt when his bank failed and he could no longer afford to help his sisters and his mother to top it all off Jane suddenly began to feel ill and tired At first she could ignore it and continued to write hoping a new book would help her family's financial troubles but as the year progressed she began to feel herself get weaker and weaker in August she finished writing persuasion finally content with its ending it would be her final finished work by April of 1817 Jane no longer had the energy to walk her brother Henry said her demeanor was still normal and she even made jokes about her condition despite these jokes Cassandra and Henry became more and more worried and decided to take her to Winchester for treatment unfortunately it was already too late and Jane's Health began to deteriorate on July 18 1817 Jane Austen died and her dear sister Cassandra's arms Jane's brother Henry as a final tribute to his sister arranged to have her final two books published on December 20th 1817 Northanger Abbey and persuasion were released to the public with a special note printed inside revealing to the world his late sister's identity [Music] Jane Austen was no longer anonymous Jane has gone on to become one of the most celebrated authors of all time her ability to make us laugh to make us cry and to make us understand love and Love's disappointments all from the perspective of an 18th century woman makes you realize just how much were still like them without even intending to she has become one of her time's greatest historians by letting us live in the 18th and early 19th century with her characters because of Jane's writing she will never truly be gone from this world forever living with her readers as the characters she made from the pieces of herself that she gave them so let's talk about what Jane Austen really looked like and reveal our Recreations of her appearance now Jane is one of those characters of History whose appearance remains pretty mysterious in fact we have so little to go on that Jane's reconstructed face has been attempted by a forensic artist Melissa Drang as both a painting and a wax work for the Jane Austen Center the only confirmed images we have of Jane Austen from her lifetime are these two works by her older sister Cassandra now the first doesn't tell us much she's in a bonnet and she's facing away from the viewer the second is the portrait but Cassandra's skill as an artist is simply okay and when you look at more modern portraits circulated of Jane there seemed to be strong attempts at beautifying her these subsequent portraits made using Cassandra's sketch as a starting point clearly smooth her out one even shows her wearing a wedding ring he famously never married so it's clear that accuracy wasn't their main goal here and it seems that publishing books by a prettier author was more of a winning marketing strategy what I've done is create my Recreation by working directly from Cassandra sketch as well as including details from descriptions of Jane by those who knew her friends and family describe Jane as having a Rosy complexion and hazel eyes and an almost doll-like face she had full round cheeks with a small nose and mouth and they all describe her hair as beautifully curling around her face from under her cap and that she was rather tall and slender the most important thing I gleaned from these descriptions is that Jane was simply full of life and humor it seems like she always had a mischievous or intelligent glint in her eye and she is always described as rather attractive by those who knew her and I'm curious from our viewers do you like the forensic sketch and the wax figure because both of them are fairly controversial to lovers of Jane Austen so I'm curious what you think without further Ado let's take a look at my Recreation of Jane Austen from her only known portrait now [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign thank you so much for watching and we'll see you all for the next video [Music]

Channel: Royalty Now Studios

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Keywords: real face of, what historical figures would look like, true face of, true faces of, real faces of historical figures, true faces of historical figures, what historical figures would look like today, royalty now, roylaty now, history documentary, history, biography, facts, jane austen, english history, novelist, pride and prejudice, jane austen real face, jane austen facts, jane austen books, jane austen biography, jane austen history, english literature

Id: h_xOCobYYtQ

Length: 21min 39sec (1299 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 21 2023