Clelia, the Duchess of Cleveland and mistress of Charles II. did reportedly have her own affair with the young Marlborough whom she is said to have moved into the inner circles of the court. The "Secret Histories" which covered the intimate details differ in their versions of how the affair ended – whether in an intrigue contrived by Sarah's mother (so the story related herafter) or by a plot Marlborough designed to get rid of her without loosing his face (the version told in Delarivier Manley's New Atalantis in 1709). The History of Prince Mirabel's Infancy, Rise and Disgrace (1712) insinuated that Charles observed the couple's intimacies to stimulate his own desires for his mistress.