247reader:Day 11: Nell GwynSeventeenth century Londoners were as fond of celebrity gossip as the res

247reader:Day 11: Nell GwynSeventeenth century Londoners were as fond of celebrity gossip as the rest of us, and one story spread like wildfire. A mob was following the carriage of one of Charles II’s hated foreign mistresses, growing restive. Mud and vegetables filled the air, to bellows of “You Catholic whore!”A curly head emerged from the window. “Good people, be civil!” called Nell Gwyn. “I am the Protestant whore!”Nell Gwyn, London’s most popular comedic actress, had been born into poverty before catching the attention of first a theater owner and then the king. She joined the ranks of his mistresses at court, where she was never the maitresse-en-titre but remained a steady, cheerful place in the king’s life. Where Barbara Castlemaine and Louise de Kerouille asked for - and received - everything from ducal titles to repaid debts to unwise secret alliances with France, Nell, born with nothing before making her own career on the stage, seems to have been something very unusual for Charles: a genuine friend. Nell did want, however, security for her children with the king. The orange-selling daughter of a brothel madam couldn’t be made a duchess, but her eldest son was eventually declared Earl of Burford, while London giggled over various contradictory stories of just how she’d convinced the king, ranging from calling six-year-old Charles “you little bastard” as she had nothing else to call him to simply dangling him out a window. (Her continuing positive relationship with both Charleses suggests the second, at least, was untrue).Charles II’s last words, whispered to his brother, were “let not poor Nelly starve,” and she did not, settling down in the Nottinghamshire residence that would remain with her descendants until the 20th century. Sadly, she suffered a stroke there soon after Charles’ death, and died in 1687. -- source link
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