When in 1999, the hereditary Earl of Burford leapt on to the
Woolsack and shouted 'Treason' in his attempt to prevent the reform
of the British House of Lords, it was an ironical twist on history:
his 17th-century forebear was the son of Nell Gwyn, the notorious
orange-seller of Drury Lane who captured the heart of the King.
Little is known about Nell's life before she met and so enchanted
Charles II: she could neither read nor write and so left none of
the 'secret' diaries and intimate letters upon which biographers
rely. But we have enough portraits of her to understand why she had
such an effect on Charles: her rich brunette hair, shapely
cherry-red lips, rosy blush and heavy-lidded, sultry eyes suggest
both her sensuality and her teasing wit. Indeed, although she
probably had once sold oranges (and perhaps more besides) to the
riotous audience in the Pit, by the time she became a Court
favourite, aged 18, she had moved from the Pit on to the stage,
becoming a star of the Restoration theatre. Charles showered on her
jewels, houses in Pall Mall, Windsor and Newmarket and an income of
more than 10,000 a year (worth over 700,000 now), but she made few
enemies - unlike her rivals, Barbara Villiers and Louise de
Keroualle. This was probably because Nell never pretended to be
other than what she was: 'But it's my trade to be a doxy, and I was
never anything else,' she once declared. She was always loyal to
the King (unheard of in those licentious days), and had two sons by
him. When he died in 1685, his brother and successor James II
ensured that she could maintain the lavish lifestyle to which she
had become accustomed. She died two years later after suffering a
stroke, aged just 37; her funeral sermon in St Martin-in-the-Fields
was preached by the future Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas
Tenison. Aphra Behn, the playwright, said of her: 'You gladden the
hearts of all that have the happy fortune to see you, as if you
were made on purpose to put the whole world in good humour.' Derek
Parker tells the story of this People's Mistress in a suitably
gossipy and entertaining style. Review by Kate Chisholm, the
biographer of Fanny Burney. (Kirkus UK)
When Nell Gwyn, an actress on the London stage, first became
familiar with the king, she was no better than a prostitute. Yet
from the moment Charles II summoned her, there was never any
suggestion that she granted her sexual favours to anyone but him;
unlike some of his other lovers, she was as loyal to him as the
Queen. On his deathbed Charles prayed neither for his Church nor
his people, but asked that "Nelly might not starve". Nell Gywn's
name is one of those few familiar to us all, yet what can we really
know of this sensuous woman - the sensation of restoration England
- who captured the heart of the king? This biography sets Nell
Gywn's life against the backdrop of London during the Restoration
and the ups and downs of theatrical life in the 17th century.
Drawing on letters and contemporary accounts, and with dramatic
portayals of the main characters, Derek Parker's book provides us
with a vivid insight into the character of a woman who rose from
nothing to be loved by a king.
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