It seems that the absolutely standard response to any form of royal favoritism in the eighteenth century to assume that the favorite of whatever gender was the mistress or lover of the royal in question, or if they were too young, of their parents or older siblings. Sometimes of course this was indeed the case, such as Louis XV and Mmes de Pompadour, du Barry et al, but not always. Therefore, Lord Bute was thought to be the lover of George III's mother, Sir John Acton the lover of Queen Maria Carolina of Naples, and Gabrielle de Polignac and the Princesse de Lamballe were credited with being Marie Antoinette's lovers. Partly of course this malice was due to the jealousy of the favourites' close hold on very valuable royal patronage, but generally the age of enlightenment was pretty cynical with regard to genuine friendship and not inclined to believe that was all there was.