Dressed in starched linen and cotton stockings, she was rarely taken out, and boredom reigned - broken only by the arrival of lunch, a cutlet and bowl of rice pudding on a tray.

No concessions were made to childhood and the nursery became Potter's jail. Mrs Potter, who bore a striking resemblance to Queen Victoria, spent her day undertaking social visits, while her husband - the son of Lancashire cotton tycoons, went to his clubs. Within it, the young Potter lived in the solitary confinement of the third-floor nursery under the care of her Calvinist Scottish nanny.Įach day, at precisely the same hour, Mr and Mrs Rupert Potter made their way to the dining room for breakfast, which was eaten in silence. In fact, behind the lavish facade, this was a world of crushing formality, rigid etiquette, and stifling routine. There, the steps were whitened each day by a maid and tradesmen had their own entrance. The eldest daughter of wealthy parents, she was raised in a grand London townhouse, No 2, Bolton Gardens, in Kensington. When this meek and tortured woman finally broke the bonds of her overbearing parents and the crippling shyness they bequeathed her, she found love - only for it to be cruelly snatched away and darkness restored.īorn on July 28, 1866, Helen Beatrix Potter was, on the face of it, a golden child. For the woman who created this immortal paradise and illustrated each tiny being with such intricate care was, in fact, a prisoner of her privileged upbringing. Now a new film, starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor, to be released in January, will reveal the bleak reality of Beatrix Potter's life. The timeless tales of their tumbles and scrapes hopped effortlessly from the staid nurseries of Edwardian England to fill the imagination of the nation's wartime children, and now delight modern-day youngsters in equal measure.īut behind the uninhibited exuberance of these joyful creatures, cosy in their blissful idyll of lilly pads, molehills and mossy lairs, lies a tragic story of love lost and happiness thwarted. Who can forget Peter Rabbit, chased through the cabbage patch in his blue coat by angry Mr McGregor? The name Beatrix Potter will forever conjure up the magical characters of childhood: Tom Kitten, Benjamin Bunny, Miss Tiggy-Winkle, Jemima Puddle-Duck and the rest. Beatrix Potter's tales brought joy to millions but her own childhood was destroyed by cruel parents and her one true love killed on the eve of their wedding:

Miss tiggy