When it came to Charles and Mary Bagot, the gossips of Regency England had more than their fill. The marriage, initially the toast of high society, was one marked with scandal and adultery. And when rumours of a particularly salacious affair broke through London, the couple were banished to the New World.

Having sailed across the ocean, Charles and Mary settled into their new home among the mudflows of Washington. It was here that they would serve their penance as the first British Ambassadors to America, at a pivotal moment in the new nation's history.

But against the odds and in spite of their misfortune, the Bagots would emerge as the leading diplomats of their day. Their innate gift for politics, culture and social affairs was a tonic to the Anglo-American tensions and would lay the groundwork for modern global diplomacy. Their trailblazing work, first in the United States and then later in Russia and Canada that would forever change the power dynamics on the world stage.

Meticulously researched, The Rebel and The Peacemaker is the untold story of romance, scandal and the art of diplomacy.