Naming a queer character "Cornbury" sounds like a very smutty pun. But it isn't . . . entirely. A cousin of Queen Anne's, Edward Hyde, Viscount Cornbury, really did exist: He served as the British governor of New York and New Jersey from 1702 to 1708. A singularly incompetent administrator, he's best remembered for garbing himself in women's clothing. (A portrait reputedly of Cornbury, sporting an elaborate headdress and peacock-colored gown, hangs in the New-York Historical Society.) When questioned about his sartorial choices, Hyde apparently responded that as he represented Queen Anne, "I ought to represent her as... More >>>