Many of the characters in Virgina Woolf's Orlando are based off of someone in the real world. Accoridng to the article “Was Virginia Woolf a Snob? The Case of Aristocratic Portraits in Orlando by Christine Fouirnaies, in a journal entry of Woolf's she discusses Vita Sackville- West stating "I trace her passions 500 years back, and they become romantic to me, like old yellow wine." This idea of Sackville-West's passions spanning over centurys is clearly seen through the structure of the novel Orlando. Woolf's association with timelessness and tie to the fantasical with Sackville-West is also seen in the characters of Orlando. While the character of the Archduchess Henrietta / Archduke Harry is a fictional character, the love interest has a basis of truth and was fashioned after Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood, one of Vita Sackville-West's many suitors. A landowner, British soldier, and eventual son-in-law to King George V, Lascelles is the muse for the comedic foil to Orlando, the Archduchess Henrietta, and later in chapter 4, Archduke Harry. While the Archduke seems to be a great match for Orlando as he is a nobleman whose clothes seem to indicate the opposite gender, the pair was not meant to be. The opposition between the gender changes of each character is stark. While Orlando's change from a man to a woman is unexpected and unintentional the persona of Archduchess Henrietta is created with the intent to deceive.   

Fouirnaies, Christine. “Was Virginia Woolf a Snob? The Case of Aristocratic Portraits in Orlando.” Woolf Studies Annual, vol. 22, 2016, pp. 21–40. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26475599. Accessed 4 June 2021.