Nell Gwyn |
‘Pretty, Witty Nell.’
Eleanor ‘Nell’
Gwyn was the infamous mistress of Charles II of England. She was the only royal mistress to ever be
popular with the ‘common’ people. The ‘rags
to riches’ tale of her life, has led to her becoming something of a folk
heroine.
Nell Gwyn was born in 1650, although
the actual place of her birth has been disputed, she did spend her early years
living in Covent Garden. Her mother, the
equally infamous Madame Gwyn, ran a Bawdy House (Brothel) and it is possible
that Nell may have been a child prostitute.
During the years 1663-67, Nell
experimented with cross-dressing, complete with false beard, and went about
under the name of William Nell. She was
also an orange seller at the King’s Theatre, London, where she stood out due to
her natural wit and lack of self-consciousness.
At age 14, Nell gave up selling oranges and took to the stage. With her good looks and lively wit, she soon
became something of a star, appearing mainly in the new form of restoration
comedies.
In 1668, Nell Gwyn became one of the
mistresses of King Charles II. They had
two illegitimate children, Charles 1670-1726 and James 1671-1680. Both were given the surname Beauclerk. Although not greedy and grasping like her
rivals, King Charles still gave Nell a rather generous yearly pension, as well
as many properties. She never received
any titles for herself, but her son, Charles, later became Duke of St.
Albans. James died whilst away at school
in France.
When King Charles II died in 1685,
his last words, to his brother James II, were ‘Let not poor Nelly starve.’ James kept his promise by paying off all of
Nell’s debts, as well as giving her a pension of 1500 pounds a year. He had tried to pressure Nell into converting
to Roman Catholicism but she strongly resisted.
After all, she was the protestant whore.
Nell continued to live a fairly
comfortable life until March 1687, when she suffered a stroke that left her
paralysed down one side. A second stroke
just two months later left her confined to bed.
She died from Apoplexy in November of the same year. Although she left behind a considerable amount
of debt, she did manage to leave a small legacy to the prisoners of Newgate
Prison, London. She was buried in the
church at St. Martin-in-the-Fields.
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