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Mistresses: Sex and Scandal at the Court of Charles II
According to the great diarist, John Evelyn, Charles II was 'addicted to women', and throughout his long reign a great many succumbed to his charms. Clever, urbane and handsome, Charles presided over a hedonistic court, in which licence and licentiousness prevailed.
Mistresses is the story of the women who shared Charles's bed, each of whom wielded influence on both the politics and cultural life of the country. From the young king-in-exile's first mistress and mother to his first child, Lucy Walter, to the promiscuous and ill-tempered courtier, Barbara Villiers. From Frances Teresa Stuart, 'the prettiest girl in the world' to history's most famous orange-seller, 'pretty, witty' Nell Gwynn and to her fellow-actress, Moll Davis, who bore the last of the king's fifteen illegitimate children. From Louise de Keroualle, the French aristocrat - and spy for Louis XIV - to the sexually ambiguous Hortense Mancini. Here, too, is the forlorn and humiliated Queen Catherine, the Portuguese princess who was Charles's childless queen.
Drawing on a wide variety of original sources, including material in private archives, Linda Porter paints a vivid picture of these women and of Restoration England, an era that was both glamorous and sordid.
Mistresses is the story of the women who shared Charles's bed, each of whom wielded influence on both the politics and cultural life of the country. From the young king-in-exile's first mistress and mother to his first child, Lucy Walter, to the promiscuous and ill-tempered courtier, Barbara Villiers. From Frances Teresa Stuart, 'the prettiest girl in the world' to history's most famous orange-seller, 'pretty, witty' Nell Gwynn and to her fellow-actress, Moll Davis, who bore the last of the king's fifteen illegitimate children. From Louise de Keroualle, the French aristocrat - and spy for Louis XIV - to the sexually ambiguous Hortense Mancini. Here, too, is the forlorn and humiliated Queen Catherine, the Portuguese princess who was Charles's childless queen.
Drawing on a wide variety of original sources, including material in private archives, Linda Porter paints a vivid picture of these women and of Restoration England, an era that was both glamorous and sordid.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published April 14, 2020
20 people are currently reading
563 people want to read
About the author
Linda Porter
28 books84 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Linda Porter was born in Exeter, Devon in 1947. Her family have long-standing connections to the West Country, but moved to the London area when she was a small child. She was educated at Walthamstow Hall School in Sevenoaks and at the University of York, from which she has a doctorate in History. On completing her postgraduate work she moved to New York, where she lived for almost a decade, lecturing at Fordham University and the City University of New York.
Since returning to England, Porter has had a varied career. She has worked as a journalist and been a senior adviser on international public relations to a major telecommunications company. But she has always stayed close to her roots as an historian. In 2004 she was the winner of the Biographers Club/Daily Mail prize which launched her on a new career as an author. Her first book, Mary Tudor: The First Queen was published in 2007. In 2010 her second book Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr was published. As of 2010[update] she is doing preliminary research for a third book.
Porter is married with one daughter. She lives in Kent.
Linda Porter was born in Exeter, Devon in 1947. Her family have long-standing connections to the West Country, but moved to the London area when she was a small child. She was educated at Walthamstow Hall School in Sevenoaks and at the University of York, from which she has a doctorate in History. On completing her postgraduate work she moved to New York, where she lived for almost a decade, lecturing at Fordham University and the City University of New York.
Since returning to England, Porter has had a varied career. She has worked as a journalist and been a senior adviser on international public relations to a major telecommunications company. But she has always stayed close to her roots as an historian. In 2004 she was the winner of the Biographers Club/Daily Mail prize which launched her on a new career as an author. Her first book, Mary Tudor: The First Queen was published in 2007. In 2010 her second book Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr was published. As of 2010[update] she is doing preliminary research for a third book.
Porter is married with one daughter. She lives in Kent.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
October 9, 2020
Less sexual and more political than the title would lead one to believe, this is solid work about some very fascinating women and a worthy addition to the study of Stuart history.
Read my full review on The Seventeenth Century Lady: http://www.andreazuvich.com/book-revi...
Read my full review on The Seventeenth Century Lady: http://www.andreazuvich.com/book-revi...
April 19, 2020
I've read about these women in other books so was disappointed that there was nothing new here. What made things worse was the fact that all the sex and scandal were glossed over. Could have been so much better and even the moments of wit couldn't quite save this one.
February 6, 2024
Incredibly interesting book that, despite the subtitle of “sex and scandal” is nowhere near as salacious and vulgar as one might think. Porter explores the many ways in which the mistresses of King Charles II shaped public discourse and government policy.
Very well written, I like when a history book reads like a story rather than a textbook.
Very well written, I like when a history book reads like a story rather than a textbook.
November 16, 2021
I'm a Linda Porter fan, so I knew I would enjoy this book. I like her writing style which isn't dry or academic but very accessible, and entertaining, even though you know its thoroughly researched and credible.
Not being very familiar with this time period (as I usually focus on medieval history up until the Tudors) I was aware of some of the figures through popular culture - such as his mistress Nell Gwyn and Charles II's weakness for women (lots of them!). He had 14 illegitimate children that he acknowledged so who knows how many there actually were. So given my ignorance of this time in English history I enjoyed that Linda Porter focused just as much on the politics of the time as well as the sex and scandal.
The women covered in this book were fascinating in their own right, coming from various backgrounds (mostly nobility) and various countries (including France and Italy). In a world where women didn't have many (if any) legal rights to property and their children, some of their lives were quite tragic.
I also enjoyed Linda's interpretation of Charles, who for some reason or other, has gone down in history as quite romanticised and people are rather fond of him, when really he was a poor King and leader who didn't treat his wife respectfully. Wonder how many women in history would be remembered so fondly if they behaved as he did..........???? I think we all know the answer to that question!
Not being very familiar with this time period (as I usually focus on medieval history up until the Tudors) I was aware of some of the figures through popular culture - such as his mistress Nell Gwyn and Charles II's weakness for women (lots of them!). He had 14 illegitimate children that he acknowledged so who knows how many there actually were. So given my ignorance of this time in English history I enjoyed that Linda Porter focused just as much on the politics of the time as well as the sex and scandal.
The women covered in this book were fascinating in their own right, coming from various backgrounds (mostly nobility) and various countries (including France and Italy). In a world where women didn't have many (if any) legal rights to property and their children, some of their lives were quite tragic.
I also enjoyed Linda's interpretation of Charles, who for some reason or other, has gone down in history as quite romanticised and people are rather fond of him, when really he was a poor King and leader who didn't treat his wife respectfully. Wonder how many women in history would be remembered so fondly if they behaved as he did..........???? I think we all know the answer to that question!
July 30, 2021
Interesting account of the women in Charles II's life. This book gives a lot more 'voice' and a sense of who these women really were, their strength, their complexity, their struggles, their agency in the context of their time; bringing their stories more to the fore and giving us a much better sense of their lives than more traditional male-centric historical accounts. Catherine of Braganza is also extensively discussed in this work adding more texture and perspective to the narrative.
November 23, 2021
It has been said that in Charles’s day, steely-eyed mothers and soon-to-be mothers-in-law were continuously on the hunt for a bride.
While Charles was a young man in France, his own mother, Queen Henrietta Maria, worked hard to find him an appropriate wife. Maria was in the lookout for someone refined – if possible regal – with money to support Charles, and his impoverished staff, and to sponsor his soldiers in England.
A variety of German princesses were wheeled out for assessment – in person or through portraiture – dismissed with Charles’s quip quote, “Ods’s fish! They are all boring and vaporous”.
He was ‘addicted to women’, and all through his long reign, a great many succumbed to his advances.
He had innumerable affairs, flings and one-off trysts with both aristocrats and commoners the same. While some are lost to history, some stand out chiefly because they had children with the king.
This book tells you the story of Charles II termed as the ‘merry monarch’.
With his perky Cockney mistress, Nell Gwyn (perhaps the Barbara Windsor of her day), at the centre of a court extraordinary for its jollity, profligacy, and ardent entanglements, Charles has been a marvel for historians ridiculed and reprimanded, written about and scorned.
The poet John Dryden, always pleasant to the ruling classes, described it as a “laughing, quaffing and unthinking time”, but it is obvious that there was extensive condemnation of this ‘brave new world’, as is suggested by the title of poet Samuel Butler’s ‘Satire upon the Licentious Age of Charles the Second’.
It was while in exile at The Hague, having fled from the Civil Wars which would conclude in his father’s execution, that Charles met a seductive young woman from Wales, Lucy Walter.
Theirs was a concise liaison, almost certainly no more than a few nights of summer passion between teenagers, but it would have enduring implications.
And boy O boy, do you get to meet a plethors of characters in this book!!
You meet the beautiful, fiery and entitled, Barbara Palmer. She was not just one of the most disreputable and contentious of Charles’ mistresses, but also a dominant and powerful figure at the royal court. Her father-in-law said that she would make her husband the most unhappy man alive! With more than a few affairs under her belt, and six illegitimate children with the king, he may have been right.
You meet Chatherine Pegge. Catherine and Charles were together for quite a few years while she was living in the Spanish Netherlands. She had two children by the future king, and lived a calm life with her husband.
And you meet Eleanor Gwyn. You find a classic ‘rags to riches story’! Nell was once a young prostitute in West London, but climbed the social ladder to become one of Charles most fascinating, and adored, royal mistresses. She had two children with Charles who were formally recognised and given titles and an aristocratic surname… not bad for the sons of an orange-girl!
Truth be told, Charles II ruled an acutely divided country, where religious harassment, whether of Catholics or Protestant non-conformists, was widespread. His reign saw the beginnings of the two-party system which still, for good or ill, underpins British politics to this day.
He cared nothing for Scotland or Ireland and was happy to trade on a fake reputation for bonhomie, of being the sort of man that other men like because of his penchant for women and his apparent accessibility, which was, in reality, a pretense.
One would do well to remember that Charles was always generous to those who did him service, even when he could not really afford it.
However, his young mistresses, like most of the women in his life, would have been generally dismissed as ‘buttered buns’ – that is, as women who had been recently possessed by other men, and not to be taken seriously. One such woman was the young Lucy Walter, previously mistress to Algernon Sidney in London, then to Robert Sidney in Holland, probably at the court of Mary, Princess of Orange (sister of Charles).
This relationship caused great anxiety to Charles’s advisers, especially Edward Hyde (later Earl of Clarendon) and his mother, who feared Charles might marry a commoner with a bad reputation.
Lucy bore Charles a son, later the Duke of Monmouth. Lucy also bore another child, not by Charles, and the affair fizzled out before her early death in November 1658.
Lucy was replaced, very promptly, by Mrs Barbara Palmer, better known as Barbara Villiers, later Countess Castlemaine and Duchess of Cleveland – titles earned by her own efforts in the bedroom.
The fact that he is still viewed as the ‘Merrie Monarch’ and has been treated with indulgence by history (though not necessarily by historians) is something we find bewildering. Yet the negations remain.
His private life makes Henry VIII look puritanical, but Charles II, despite the many and varied mistresses, could not be induced to divorce his wife, let alone execute her.
His reign saw disgrace heaped on Britain from abroad and calamity overtake his capital in the mid-1660s, yet he somehow managed to survive and to dispense with Parliament in the closing years of his reign.
The lasting impression of Charles II, when all the sordid glamour of his court and his mistresses is stripped away, is of a lazy, intelligent man, forever marked by the hardship of his formative years, a pleasure-loving pessimist not quite redeemed by his death-bed conversion to Catholicism.
The book makes you kind of sick and disgusted. All kudos to the author for that!
While Charles was a young man in France, his own mother, Queen Henrietta Maria, worked hard to find him an appropriate wife. Maria was in the lookout for someone refined – if possible regal – with money to support Charles, and his impoverished staff, and to sponsor his soldiers in England.
A variety of German princesses were wheeled out for assessment – in person or through portraiture – dismissed with Charles’s quip quote, “Ods’s fish! They are all boring and vaporous”.
He was ‘addicted to women’, and all through his long reign, a great many succumbed to his advances.
He had innumerable affairs, flings and one-off trysts with both aristocrats and commoners the same. While some are lost to history, some stand out chiefly because they had children with the king.
This book tells you the story of Charles II termed as the ‘merry monarch’.
With his perky Cockney mistress, Nell Gwyn (perhaps the Barbara Windsor of her day), at the centre of a court extraordinary for its jollity, profligacy, and ardent entanglements, Charles has been a marvel for historians ridiculed and reprimanded, written about and scorned.
The poet John Dryden, always pleasant to the ruling classes, described it as a “laughing, quaffing and unthinking time”, but it is obvious that there was extensive condemnation of this ‘brave new world’, as is suggested by the title of poet Samuel Butler’s ‘Satire upon the Licentious Age of Charles the Second’.
It was while in exile at The Hague, having fled from the Civil Wars which would conclude in his father’s execution, that Charles met a seductive young woman from Wales, Lucy Walter.
Theirs was a concise liaison, almost certainly no more than a few nights of summer passion between teenagers, but it would have enduring implications.
And boy O boy, do you get to meet a plethors of characters in this book!!
You meet the beautiful, fiery and entitled, Barbara Palmer. She was not just one of the most disreputable and contentious of Charles’ mistresses, but also a dominant and powerful figure at the royal court. Her father-in-law said that she would make her husband the most unhappy man alive! With more than a few affairs under her belt, and six illegitimate children with the king, he may have been right.
You meet Chatherine Pegge. Catherine and Charles were together for quite a few years while she was living in the Spanish Netherlands. She had two children by the future king, and lived a calm life with her husband.
And you meet Eleanor Gwyn. You find a classic ‘rags to riches story’! Nell was once a young prostitute in West London, but climbed the social ladder to become one of Charles most fascinating, and adored, royal mistresses. She had two children with Charles who were formally recognised and given titles and an aristocratic surname… not bad for the sons of an orange-girl!
Truth be told, Charles II ruled an acutely divided country, where religious harassment, whether of Catholics or Protestant non-conformists, was widespread. His reign saw the beginnings of the two-party system which still, for good or ill, underpins British politics to this day.
He cared nothing for Scotland or Ireland and was happy to trade on a fake reputation for bonhomie, of being the sort of man that other men like because of his penchant for women and his apparent accessibility, which was, in reality, a pretense.
One would do well to remember that Charles was always generous to those who did him service, even when he could not really afford it.
However, his young mistresses, like most of the women in his life, would have been generally dismissed as ‘buttered buns’ – that is, as women who had been recently possessed by other men, and not to be taken seriously. One such woman was the young Lucy Walter, previously mistress to Algernon Sidney in London, then to Robert Sidney in Holland, probably at the court of Mary, Princess of Orange (sister of Charles).
This relationship caused great anxiety to Charles’s advisers, especially Edward Hyde (later Earl of Clarendon) and his mother, who feared Charles might marry a commoner with a bad reputation.
Lucy bore Charles a son, later the Duke of Monmouth. Lucy also bore another child, not by Charles, and the affair fizzled out before her early death in November 1658.
Lucy was replaced, very promptly, by Mrs Barbara Palmer, better known as Barbara Villiers, later Countess Castlemaine and Duchess of Cleveland – titles earned by her own efforts in the bedroom.
The fact that he is still viewed as the ‘Merrie Monarch’ and has been treated with indulgence by history (though not necessarily by historians) is something we find bewildering. Yet the negations remain.
His private life makes Henry VIII look puritanical, but Charles II, despite the many and varied mistresses, could not be induced to divorce his wife, let alone execute her.
His reign saw disgrace heaped on Britain from abroad and calamity overtake his capital in the mid-1660s, yet he somehow managed to survive and to dispense with Parliament in the closing years of his reign.
The lasting impression of Charles II, when all the sordid glamour of his court and his mistresses is stripped away, is of a lazy, intelligent man, forever marked by the hardship of his formative years, a pleasure-loving pessimist not quite redeemed by his death-bed conversion to Catholicism.
The book makes you kind of sick and disgusted. All kudos to the author for that!
July 23, 2025
Really loved the writing style, but not sure the order of introducing the women made sense to me
August 26, 2022
This is an interesting account of the relationships of Charles II and a handful of his mistresses. All are fascinating women, but the book is a bit dry in parts.
May 16, 2022
King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland famously left no legitimate children with his wife, Catherine of Braganza. However, he did leave plenty of illegitimate children fathered with his many mistresses. Linda Porter, who has also written about one of my favourite Queens - Queen Mary I, writes most skilfully about Charles's mistresses.
The one I knew least about was the mother of his eldest son, Lucy Walter, and I was happy to learn more about her and the early years of her son, who later became Duke of Monmouth and led an ill-fated rebellion. Lucy was long dead and forgotten by then, although their son claimed that his parents were married and he was thus the rightful heir to the throne. He never managed to produce any evidence.
Better known for being Charles’s mistresses were Barbara Villiers, Nell Gwyn and Louise de Kérouaille. Barbara’s “reign” lasted quite long, and she produced a number of children who were recognised by Charles. However, her presence at court was loathed by Charles’s wife, Catherine. Both women had children with the King, and their lines, like Barbara’s, last to today. The rivalry among the women is quite interesting to read about, and Linda sure makes it a fun read.
From Nell Gwyn’s famous “protest whore” quote to the woman that got away, Mistresses brings to life a wide range of women from different backgrounds who all ended up at the Stuart court.
The one I knew least about was the mother of his eldest son, Lucy Walter, and I was happy to learn more about her and the early years of her son, who later became Duke of Monmouth and led an ill-fated rebellion. Lucy was long dead and forgotten by then, although their son claimed that his parents were married and he was thus the rightful heir to the throne. He never managed to produce any evidence.
Better known for being Charles’s mistresses were Barbara Villiers, Nell Gwyn and Louise de Kérouaille. Barbara’s “reign” lasted quite long, and she produced a number of children who were recognised by Charles. However, her presence at court was loathed by Charles’s wife, Catherine. Both women had children with the King, and their lines, like Barbara’s, last to today. The rivalry among the women is quite interesting to read about, and Linda sure makes it a fun read.
From Nell Gwyn’s famous “protest whore” quote to the woman that got away, Mistresses brings to life a wide range of women from different backgrounds who all ended up at the Stuart court.
February 1, 2021
My knowledge of the Stuart monarchy is very poor indeed, maybe at 1 or 2 out of 10 at best. I decided to read this book as I wanted to rectify that sad state of affairs but sadly, after reaching the end of it, I can honestly say that I'm no better off than I was before. There is nothing new about these women in this book. Nothing at all.
When dealing with Nell Gywn the author begins her section by talking about theatre politics and the role of women on the stage in general before finally getting around to Nell. Then towards then end of Nell's section the author uses Nell's famous "protestant whore" quote as reason to tell us about Titus Oates and The Popish Plot. There are so many known anecdotes about Nell that don't make it into this book and it's a bit baffling as to why they aren't in there.
In the chapter dedicated to Hortense Mancini, the author makes a gentle dig at an other author for referring to Hortense's sister, Marie Mancini, as the mistress of Louis XIV saying that "despite the lurid speculation of historical novelists and even the misleading title of the most recent biography on the Mancini sisters, there is little evidence to support the view that this was a sexual relationship". Well, in that case, why on earth did the author decide to include Frances Stuart in a book about the mistresses of Charles II as, by the same token, she can't really be considered as a royal mistress either.
I can't deny that it is well written but ultimately I found it to be a huge disappointment as it failed to bring these vibrant women to life. The text focusses more on the politics of the times rather than on the women themselves.
When dealing with Nell Gywn the author begins her section by talking about theatre politics and the role of women on the stage in general before finally getting around to Nell. Then towards then end of Nell's section the author uses Nell's famous "protestant whore" quote as reason to tell us about Titus Oates and The Popish Plot. There are so many known anecdotes about Nell that don't make it into this book and it's a bit baffling as to why they aren't in there.
In the chapter dedicated to Hortense Mancini, the author makes a gentle dig at an other author for referring to Hortense's sister, Marie Mancini, as the mistress of Louis XIV saying that "despite the lurid speculation of historical novelists and even the misleading title of the most recent biography on the Mancini sisters, there is little evidence to support the view that this was a sexual relationship". Well, in that case, why on earth did the author decide to include Frances Stuart in a book about the mistresses of Charles II as, by the same token, she can't really be considered as a royal mistress either.
I can't deny that it is well written but ultimately I found it to be a huge disappointment as it failed to bring these vibrant women to life. The text focusses more on the politics of the times rather than on the women themselves.
April 17, 2021
As with most historical non-fiction, this is really well researched, with particular attention paid to the political context of each woman, which is refreshingly helpful if you don't know much about this era and King Charles II. There certainly is sex and scandal in this, though not if you compare it to some more graphic fiction texts, but that is not a bit of me, so I was pretty happy with this. The writing is informative, but never dry, and quite wry and witty in places. My only criticism is that I wanted to learn more about the less-famous mistresses, and this is really just about the big 4 and the Queen, but a book can't please everyone. I also enjoyed that this is the first biographical account I've read that paints Charles II as a bit of a dick without dressing it up in romance and "oh, wasn't he clever" and I appreciated Porter addressing his legacy in the epilogue.
If you know very little about Charles and his weakness for women, or about Restoration culture, but want to know more, then I definitely recommend this.
If you know very little about Charles and his weakness for women, or about Restoration culture, but want to know more, then I definitely recommend this.
March 8, 2022
This is an immensely fascinating little book about some of the mistresses of the English king Charles II and what they tell us about the wider politics of the Restoration Court. This book firmly places the mistresses in the centre of the story and never loses sight of that. It also never places any sort of judgement or condemnation on any of these women for their actions which I greatly appreciated. This book does talk a lot more about the politics of the Restoration Court and Restoration England than its title might suggest but it does so from a very interesting angle which helps in making these discussions not feel boring. The writing is engaging and also balances the many people featured in the book well without making the reader feel too confused. This is ultimately an incredibly fascinating book that I would recommend to anyone with an interest in this period!
April 6, 2022
I really liked this! It took a while to get into but when it did it read like a novel
June 15, 2021
a genuinely interesting read. very entertaining.
July 21, 2022
Far more political than the subheading would suggest, which was fab! Not saying anything wildly new, but an enjoyable and readable piece of non-fiction nonetheless.
August 24, 2022
Skimmed by the end
September 19, 2022
I loved learning about these women but wish there had been more to grasp on to! Felt like I also met them briefly and at a distance.
June 3, 2020
I read a lot of micro history and this is one of the few books I enjoyed so thoroughly I just had to comment.
Too often, English history focuses solely on the monarchs and not enough on the people surrounding the monarchs or even just living at the time. While this book focuses on his mistresses who are (as expected) of the nobility, it’s very refreshing to learn about wildly different women and how their lives are affected by the patriarchal and rigidly moral Restoration period.
This book brings to life women that are selfish and politically manipulative but also women that are intensely loving and genuine - to their king, their country, or their values. Well-rounded women of history are few and far between and that’s why this book is so refreshing.
Too often, English history focuses solely on the monarchs and not enough on the people surrounding the monarchs or even just living at the time. While this book focuses on his mistresses who are (as expected) of the nobility, it’s very refreshing to learn about wildly different women and how their lives are affected by the patriarchal and rigidly moral Restoration period.
This book brings to life women that are selfish and politically manipulative but also women that are intensely loving and genuine - to their king, their country, or their values. Well-rounded women of history are few and far between and that’s why this book is so refreshing.
October 26, 2021
Not that much sex or scandal (if you have ever read on basically any lecherous man in power), but quite a lot of politics. While I did find the book interesting, mostly because I am rather new to this period of history and because I am always in for finding out more about women of the past (so often relegated to mere footnotes, if that), it did not really sweep me up as I want my nonfiction to do. Not amazing but good.
May 5, 2020
Basically, quite enjoyable fluffy chapters on the lives of the major mistresses of Charles II, cunningly hiding in the form of a group historical biography. Porter does provide political and historical context, and of course the fates of mistresses often parallel the fates of administrations, factions, and fashions, but it’s not highly academic by any means.
April 6, 2020
I picked a copy of this at a book club because I like historical literature. It is an interesting non-fiction account of the many loves of Charles II. It is well researched and gives an insight to the attractions of the women and why they appealed to the king but sometimes the facts got in the way of understanding and relating to the characters.
January 8, 2021
Loved this book! Was my first time reading about Charles II, loved how it was written, interesting all the way through. Slightly more political than I thought but that’s the story of the women’s lives and how they hustled the king. Really, really good. 100% recommend for a beginner
August 17, 2020
NOTHING NEW BUT INTERESTINGLY WRITTEN
February 15, 2022
Less sex and more intrigue - certainly a well written and researched dive into the promiscuous Charles II.
July 27, 2022
Interesting book about the mistresses of Charles II.
July 10, 2022
good, lots of interesting information, particularly about hortense mancini who we know little about, but there was nell slander🙄🙄 which i of course, cannot stand for!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 7, 2023
A relatively short, entertaining account of the various mistresses of Charles II and their impact on him and his reign. History has painted the King in a relatively kind way and his mistresses a bit of joie de vivre after the restoration and austerity of the Commonwealth.
Linda Potter shows that this is an illusion, Charles reign was always one step from disaster and, of course his brother was to lose the throne within 3 years. In one part of the book Charles is alleged to have said that he treated his ministers like his mistresses, he never loved them just used them. As a result the King ends up self medicating on mercury for the clap while he dispenses with parliament and just about survives the exclusion crisis.
A fascinating account with just enough detail to make it a useful history rather than a fun train read.
Linda Potter shows that this is an illusion, Charles reign was always one step from disaster and, of course his brother was to lose the throne within 3 years. In one part of the book Charles is alleged to have said that he treated his ministers like his mistresses, he never loved them just used them. As a result the King ends up self medicating on mercury for the clap while he dispenses with parliament and just about survives the exclusion crisis.
A fascinating account with just enough detail to make it a useful history rather than a fun train read.
May 5, 2025
A joint biography of the women in King Charles II's life, which also includes his Portuguese Queen, Catherine of Braganza. Porter deromanticizes the image of King Charles II, arguing that rather than being considered "the Merry Monarch" in his own lifetime, his extramarital relationships undermined his reputation as monarch, especially when the royal mistresses received incomes and titles and were perceived to have political influence. The politics of King Charles II's reign are woven into the text. The later lives of these women are quickly summarized in an epilogue after King Charles II's death and this material could have been expanded into a longer chapters, especially as a couple of Charles II's favourites lived into the Georgian period.
March 30, 2025
There isn't much scandal in the book, as many of the reviewers rightfully noticed, but there IS SO MUCH JUDGEMENT. I'm sure that having spent a lot of time with the heroines, the writer did feel certain familiarity towards them, but if you're a prude at heart, shouldn't you have chosen another subject matter?
The book is full of incredible women defying societal expectations or carving out their own place with the only asset at their disposal - their beauty, but of course the author promptly pigeonholes them as "the royal whore", "the wealthy wife", "the one who got away", "baby face", etc
The book is full of incredible women defying societal expectations or carving out their own place with the only asset at their disposal - their beauty, but of course the author promptly pigeonholes them as "the royal whore", "the wealthy wife", "the one who got away", "baby face", etc
October 11, 2022
A good read on a fascinating subject.
The restoration period fascinates me so much.
I appreciate that there is not much new information to be discovered, but the author covers the subject in detail, making it about the women themselves and not purely about the sexual scandals.
Personally, Charles II comes across as a deeply sad man who's father was murdered and who grew up in exile and was forced to marry a woman he didn't really love.
He seems to have genuinely cared about his mistresses and to have even loved some of them, but was clearly not a monogamous man.
The restoration period fascinates me so much.
I appreciate that there is not much new information to be discovered, but the author covers the subject in detail, making it about the women themselves and not purely about the sexual scandals.
Personally, Charles II comes across as a deeply sad man who's father was murdered and who grew up in exile and was forced to marry a woman he didn't really love.
He seems to have genuinely cared about his mistresses and to have even loved some of them, but was clearly not a monogamous man.
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