Items related to Nell Gwyn: Mistress to a King
Synopsis
Written by a direct descendant of the union between Nell Gwyn and King Charles II, Nell Gwyn tells the story of one of England’s great folk heroines, a woman who rose from an impoverished, abusive childhood to become King Charles II’s most cherished mistress, and the star of one of the great love stories of royal history. Born during a tumultuous period in England’s past, Nell Gwyn caught the eye of King Charles II, the newly restored, pleasure-seeking merry monarch” of a nation in full hedonistic reaction to Puritan rule. Their seventeen-year love affair played out against the backdrop of the Great Fire of London, the Great Plague, court scandals, and the constant threat of political revolution. Despite his other lovers’ Machiavellian efforts to win the king’s favor and humiliate Nell, the self-proclaimed Protestant whore” earned the devotion of her king and the love of her nation, becoming England’s first people’s princess.” Magnificently recreating the heady and licentious, yet politically charged atmosphere of Restoration England, Nell Gwyn tells the true-life Cinderella story of a common orange salesgirl who became mistress to a king.
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About the Author
The author is a direct descendant of Nell Gwyn and lectures on sixteenth and seventeenth century literature and history. He lives in Suffolk. This is his first book.
From Publishers Weekly
British historian Beauclerk, a descendant of King Charles II and his longtime mistress Nell Gwyn (1650–1687), draws on earlier biographies, contemporary satires and plays, noted diarist Samuel Pepys and family archives to present a lively portrait of his famous forebears, along with an account of the theater of the time and the surprisingly parallel worlds of prostitutes and royal mistresses. Along the way, he renders an awfully generous reading of the royal cause and argues that Charles led the Restoration out of joie de vivre as much as for the sake of the monarchy. Beauclerk posits that the king's amorous adventures—particularly with women of lower classes—endeared him to his people after dismal years of Puritan restrictions. Nell's rise was meteoric: selling refreshments in London theaters, she honed a quick wit that led to an acting career and brought her to the attention of the king. Nell was never Charles's only mistress, but she was faithful to him and amused him by playing the fool. Beauclerk's historical insights have a personal flair that indicates his family's take on their ancestors. He ends with an odd history of his troubled family, suggesting its problematic twin inheritances from king and actress. 16 pages of color illus. not seen by PW.
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- PublisherGrove Press
- Publication date2006
- ISBN 10 0802142745
- ISBN 13 9780802142740
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages448
- Rating
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