Mary Willcocks: The Victorian Servant Who Deceived Society as a Princess

A statue commemorating a notable Victorian con artist, Mary Willcocks, stands in a city’s burial ground, where she is now recognized as a working-class symbol. This sculpture has a dedicated X account, reflecting the ongoing fascination with how Willcocks, the daughter of a cobbler, managed to persuade Bristol’s upper class that she was Princess Caraboo, originating from a distant island. BBC presenter Lucy Worsley, who recently produced a podcast detailing Willcocks’ life, states that Bristol’s status as a cosmopolitan hub teeming with travelers during the Victorian era was crucial to Princess Caraboo’s successful deception. In reality, Willcocks hailed from an impoverished family in Devon. Nevertheless, in 1817, she gained public attention by impersonating royalty from Indonesia. Her initial appearance was in Almondsbury, situated close to Bristol’s periphery, where she wore a turban and communicated in an incomprehensible language. “She very cleverly played on the reactions of the people she was encountering to build up this convincing character for herself as an exotic Indonesian princess,” Ms Worsley stated. Ms Worsley further commented, “She lived her best life – she hobnobbed with the rich and famous of Bristol and she became this centre of attention. It was an extraordinary fraud.” Ms Worsley explained that her prolonged evasion of detection was due to Bristol residents’ familiarity with sailors and newcomers arriving in the city and recounting unusual stories. “That was the key to her scam really. She blended into this very cosmopolitan city,” Ms Worsley remarked. After Princess Caraboo was recognized as royalty, she was escorted to a “big house” in Almondsbury. At this location, she was observed engaging in activities such as shooting objects in the garden with a bow and arrow and enjoying nature, behaviors commonly associated with an exotic princess. Ms Worsley further noted, “She let it be known, not in English because she didn’t speak English, but that she had been captured by pirates – only in Bristol could this happen.” She obtained elaborate attire, and her likeness was captured in a portrait that subsequently appeared in local newspapers. Ultimately, the deception was uncovered when a boarding-house proprietor identified her from an image published in the Bristol Journal. Willcocks had previously worked as a servant girl across England but, unable to secure a permanent residence, she had concocted her fabricated language using a combination of invented and Romani words.