Back to the Stuarts calendar
You may remember, if you have been reading all this, that lots of Kings of England not only had a wife but also a mistress, a
woman to whom they weren’t married but they sometimes had children with. Of course some like Henry VIII had lots of mistresses and lots of wives but we’ll forget
him. Charles was married to Catherine of Braganza, which was a place in Portugal (well find an Atlas then). They never had any children but Charles probably had
more than twenty illegitimate children and, if you remember, illegitimate means that the two parents weren’t married to each other.
Quite a few of Charles’ mistresses were actresses, partly because
he liked going to the theatre. The most famous of these was a lady called Nell Gwyn who probably had two sons with Charles.
Nell Gwyn started her life in 1650 so she was 20 years younger than Charles. She was born in London and at the age of 13 she became an orange seller.
A year later she was due to appear in a play and from then on she seems to have acted in lots of plays. This must have been quite difficult for her as it is
thought that she couldn’t read or write. However old Pepys called her "pretty, witty Nell" so she was obviously a bright, intelligent person.
Charles first saw her in a play in 1668, theatres had been shut during the plague and some burned away during the fire. Their affair lasted until the
King died in 1685. On his death bed, he is said to have asked his brother, soon to be James II, though not for long, to “not let poor Nelly starve” and James paid
off many of her debts. She died 3 years later aged 37.
Forward to 1672AD
