nikolaevnas:Eleanor “Nell” Gwynn: 1650-1687Nell Gwynn is perhaps the most famous of

nikolaevnas:Eleanor “Nell” Gwynn: 1650-1687Nell Gwynn is perhaps the most famous of Charles II’s mistresses. She is an icon of the Restoration era and has become a symbol of feminine independence by pursuing a career and earning her fortune. But Nell’s life had a humble start. She was born the daughter of Ellen Gwynn and possibly Thomas Gwynn in either London, Hereford, or Oxford. Not very much is known of Nell’s early life other than the fact that she grew up in Covent Garden where her mother worked in a “bawdy house”. It is debated whether or not Nell got her start as a prostitute during her adolescence. In her early teenage years, Nell and her sister Rose began working for Mary “Orange Moll” Meggs selling oranges to the patrons of the Theater Royal in Drury Lane. Soon afterwards she took to the stage.As an actress, Nell delighted audiences with her great humor and wit. She preferred acting in comedies instead of serious dramas, which says something of her fun loving nature. She was groomed and educated by actor Thomas Killigrew, leader of The King’s Company. Eventually Nell began to take on lovers, including noblemen. Around 1668, Nell was met  King Charles with the help of the Duke of Buckingham, who wanted to supplant Barbara Villiers with a new royal mistress. It was not difficult to be attracted to “pretty, witty Nell” as Samuel Pepys called her, for she was beautiful, charming, and had what were referred to as the smallest feet in England. By the spring of 1668 Nell’s affair with the King began, and in 1670 she bore a son to Charles, a boy named Charles Beauclerk. Though she was a royal mistress with the security of being mother to the King’s child, Nell returned to her acting career, to the surprise of many. She clashed often with the King’s other mistresses, particularly Louise de Kérouaille. Nell was lively, bawdy, and carefree, while Louise was a more serious French gentlewoman who often sobbed. Nell referred to Louise as “Squintabella” and Louise resented Nell’s commonness. Despite their differences, both ladies were long time mistresses of the King. After Nell officially left the stage she retired to a luxurious townhouse at 79 Pall Mall, which she insisted on owning in her own right. She gave birth to a second son by the King, James Beauclerk, in 1671. Nell openly referred to her elder son Charles as a “little bastard” until his father the King bestowed on him the title of Earl of Burford and later Duke of St.Albans. King Charles and Nell’s relationship lasted until his death in 1685. On his deathbed, Charles asked his brother James II to “let not poor Nelly starve”. And so Nell was kept in comfort with a pension and her debts paid off by the new king. She outlived King Charles by only two years, suffering a stroke in 1637. Nell died on November 14, 1687 of apoplexy caused by two successive strokes.  -- source link

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