Anita Arnand

And it's June 1822.

Bolivar has entered Quito.

He's secured another stunning victory in Ecuador.

And he's being celebrated, you know, and there's cheering in the streets and dancing and music.

And he's introduced to Manuela.

And she is young, 25 years old.

She's got these dark hair, deep brown eyes, born in Quito.

illegitimate daughter of a Spanish merchant and a woman from the upper classes.

But despite this stigma, her father had ensured that she got a very, very good education in one of the city's finest convents.

And you're right, she was married to a Brit, James Thorne, a British merchant about 20 years older than her.

It was though purely a marriage of convenience because it gave her respectability, it gave her financial security.

Voldemort, then, in the making.

This is 1822, so not quite Voldemort at this point.

But she's completely enamoured with the revolutionary idea, even before she meets him.

And she has been working as a spy.

You know, I told you in the last episode that women were doing a great job of intelligence gathering for the independence movement.

She's not just a spy, but she's also actively recruiting men in Lima to desert the royalist forces and join the revolution.

There's a wonderful biography of Manuela for Glory and Bolivar, it's called, by Pamela Murray.

She describes how, you know, when Manuela first sees him, she is completely starstruck and there is an immediate affair that begins.

Another Yale historian says that, you know, that Manuela was really not shy about telling her husband what was going on.