In the spring of 1817, the village of Almondsbury, some seven miles north of Bristol, hosted foreign royalty. At least, that's what many people assumed to be the case. Rather, Mary Willcocks, the eccentric daughter of a West Country cobbler, had deceived her hosts and much of high society into believing she was the alluring Princess Caraboo from the far-flung island of Javasu in the Indian Ocean.
Born in Witheridge, Devon, details of Mary's childhood are sketchy, though she was reputed to be of