The Windsor Nell Gwynn Knew

As royal mistresses go, Nell Gwynn is probably our most favourite of King Charles II's mistresses - and with good reason. This saucy, funny, beautiful actress was quite a loveable character - and her royal lover certainly knew that. John Evelyn referred to Nell as, "the Comedian & Apple-woman's daughter", whilst Samuel Pepys called her, "pretty witty Nell." She had risen from impoverished prostitute and orange seller to admired Restoration actress before catching the eye of the Merry Monarch. She had two sons by Charles - Charles and James.

Last month, my husband and I moved from Lancashire to Windsor, and I was excited for many reasons, not least because Windsor has an abundance of 17th-century history. As I turn one corner, walk down this street, stop in front of this house, I can't get over how much history is everywhere. Very near Windsor Castle, there is a small, quaint street which has an array of little shops and eateries. I daresay most tourists - overwhelmed by so much to see - don't realise how old the buildings are. There is a Chinese restaurant in what is referred to as "Nell Gwynn's House" - and there is an inscription on the exterior of this building that states it was built in 1640. You can see how close the castle is to the site of Nell's house.

"The Protestant Whore" had previously lived in houses in Lincoln's Inn Fields and Pall Mall. In Windsor, however, Nell Gwynn is most closely associated with Burford House. In The Story of Windsor, Maurice Bond stated, "Charles II had a strong affection for Windsor. [His] mistress, Nell Gwynn, had a house especially built for her (Burford House) just outside the Castle Walls, and her descendants, the Beauclerks, Dukes of St. Albans, came to play a considerable role in the life of the borough" (page  63).

James Beauclerk, Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke
St. Albans, Nell Gwynn, by Richard Tompson,
after Sir Peter Lely, before 1693.

The Windsor that Nell Gwynn knew was one of rural life mixed with cockfighting, horse races, and there was a bustling new coffee house. According to The Physical Shape and Urban Landscape of New Windsor 1500-1780 by E.J. Brown, "a coach and postal service were introduced in 1673 and 1674." The River Thames runs by, dividing Windsor from Eton. Windsor Castle, now known to be the oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world, was extensively renovated during the Restoration, following its use as a prison under Cromwell. You can read more about its history here.

By the time Nell began living in Windsor, the 1670s, the town had begun to see a rise in population. Such increase understandably led to some concerns about contaminated wells, more refuse on the streets, and associated health risks. In the early 18th-century, during the reign of Queen Anne, the population had risen more and the queen asked for water to be brought in from a neighbouring area.

As with the home in Pall Mall, London, Nell Gwynn wanted to secure the freehold of the house instead of the leasehold she was originally given. Now, this is a problem many people still face. Indeed, my husband and I had a leasehold in London and we had to pay rent for the land even though we owned the house. It's all rather confusing, but then as now it was far better - more secure - to have the freehold on a property than a leasehold. 

Nell, always a sharp cookie, knew this and did obtain the freehold (first for the Pall Mall property) by telling the king that, "she had always conveyed herself free under the crown , but that she would not accept the house until its freehold was conveyed free to her by the crown." Nell and Charles's descendants continued to own Burford House until the late 18th century.

Image found in The House of Nell Gwynn, 1670-1974.

Burford House, however, was an enchanting dwelling, as you can see from the image above. Great, fabulous gardens were created, and it is believed that the land surrounding the house was no more than forty acres. You can tell how countryfied it was. It is to this day a remarkably verdant area - and I can understand why Charles liked it so - it's very different and quiet - in comparison to London. As a great deal of construction was going on inside Windsor Castle itself at that time, Nell was able to have the interiors of her new, modern home decorated by the highly sought-after painter Antonio Verrio and some elaborate woodcarvings were also created for parts of the house by the talented Baroque woodcarver Grinling Gibbons. We can only imagine how beautiful the end result was! 

Despite her favourable position as a royal mistress, poor Nell was often in debt. In fact, one of King Charles II's last words was to his brother, James. The following is from John Evelyn's Diary entry for 6th of February, 1685:

He spake to the Duke [James, Duke of York] to be kind to his Concubines the DD: of Cleveland, & especially Portsmouth, & that Nelly might not starve.

...because she was so often in debt, starvation was a frightening possibility. James stayed true to his promise to his brother and paid of Nell's debts. Nell and Charles's son, the Duke of St. Albans, was financially better off than his mother.

Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke St. Albans. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

As stated in The Windsor Beauties:

The Earl of Burford was created Duke of St. Albans in January 1684, and ample provision was made for him by his father. There was a settlement of £5000 a year, chargeable on the Exchequer, he inherited on his mother's death Burford House, and he was given the reversion of the sinecure office of Master Falconer of England and Registrar of the Court of Chancery, both to be hereditary, worth some £1500 a year.

Beauclerk later became a favourite of King William III's following the Glorious Revolution of 1688/89, at which point his fortunes increased. Beauclerk lived in Burford House and eventually married Diana de Vere, with whom he had twelve children.

As I've walked around this part of Windsor, I've noticed so many shop signs and gift shop trinkets that feature Nell. Nell as the busty orange-seller, Nell as the romantic actress, Nell as the wanton mistress. A highly romanticised depiction of her from a 19th-century painting adorns the door to the Windsor & Royal Borough Museum (perfectly situated in the building that Christopher Wren designed!).

It's quite easy to imagine her in her colourful dresses, a bright smile upon her face, as she walked around these streets. I think she'd be astonished to find that, after all this time, people still think on her fondly. I like to think it's because she's the most accessible of Charles II's mistresses, and her warmth transcends time. 

Bibliography:

Adamson, Donald and Peter Beauclerk Dewar. The House of Nell Gwynn, 1670-1974.

Bond, Maurice. The Story of Windsor.

Brown, E.J. The Physical Shape and Urban Landscape of New Windsor 1500-1780.

Evelyn, John. Diary.

Pepys, Samuel. Diary.

Melville, Lewis. The Windsor Beauties: Ladies of the Court of Charles II.
Powell, Roger. Royal Sex: The Scandalous Love Lives of the British Royal Family.

Andrea Zuvich (aka The Seventeenth Century Lady) is usually a 17th-century historian and authoress of historical fiction set in the 17th-century, but she has had to take a break from her beloved history for a month to deal with the craziness of moving house. Now that's sorted out (whew!) she's back, working on three books: William & Mary: A Novel, William Alone: A Sequel, and Anthea: Confessions of a Restoration Actress. She is also thinking about writing a non-fiction history on the Stuarts. She was recently listed as one of the Most Followed Historians on Twitter.

WILLIAM and MARY

This week we welcome Andrea Zuvich as our guest blogger. William and Mary are the forgotten Stuarts (except to the Irish!) and we are very excited to find out a little bit more about them!

The story of William & Mary is one of duty, love, war, heartbreak, betrayal, and revolution. It was a real game of thrones. This was a unique reign as there was a joint King and Queen upon the throne for the first time in English history.

Mary II, eldest daughter of James, Duke of York (later James II) and niece of the Merry Monarch, Charles II, was a romantic, naturally intelligent but poorly educated, beautiful, feminine girl when she married William III of Orange in 1677.  

William III, by contrast, had lived a solemn lifestyle – one of hard work and duty. He was Stadtholder, or Chief Magistrate, of the United Provinces/Dutch Republic (now the Netherlands) and the constant threat from and warfare with Louis XIV’s France always plagued his thoughts. His passions included hunting and collecting artwork.

William was struck by Mary’s sweet nature and stunned by her incredible beauty, and he immediately asked Charles for her hand in marriage. Mary, then fifteen years old, was devastated to learn that she would have to marry her first cousin William, who was at first sight unattractive, morose, old, and a good deal shorter (William and Mary’s height difference was almost the same as that between Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise). Remember, Charles II’s Restoration court was flamboyant and colourful, whereas the Dutch Republic was more sombre and calm. Fortunately, she soon fell completely in love with her husband, who was kind-hearted and even funny with his intimates, and also with her adoptive country.

Within a few months of their marriage, 1678, Mary became very happily pregnant. At around four months pregnant, she decided to visit him at his encampment at Breda. Unfortunately, the roads were rough and the coach jostled her about so violently, resulting in a miscarriage. As there was no doctor around with knowledge of gynaecology, she developed an infection. Eventually, in 1679, she became pregnant a second time, but the damage from the first miscarriage was too great and she lost the baby again. Call it wishful thinking, she had all the symptoms of pregnancy again in 1680, but no child came, the symptoms had been misdiagnosed and this was unbearable for the young couple. Mary’s childlessness was a source of deep heartache for her for the rest of her life.

William, in sadness or desperation, turned to another. Imagine how heartbreaking it must have been for Mary, who loved him passionately, to learn that he was carrying on with her lady-in-waiting, Elizabeth Villiers, a woman she had grown up with. There is still debate as to whether William’s relationship with Elizabeth Villiers was sexual, as she never gave birth to any of his children, though the affair presumably lasted for 15 years, and when she did marry, she quickly had children. No letters between them, nothing at all, has survived. Elizabeth remains shrouded in mystery. Perhaps we will never know what their relationship was. One thing remains clear: William was not, unlike his uncles, a highly sexed man. This can be attributed to his ill health – he had severe asthma, suffered from headaches, haemorrhoids, and later, painfully swollen legs and feet.

Persistent rumours of William’s homosexuality, popularised in Jacobite propaganda, cannot be accepted due to lack of evidence. We even have William’s own writing against it. When told of scurrilous rumours surrounding his relationship with his young favourite, Arnold Joost von Keppel, he wrote, “I find it extraordinary that one cannot have esteem for a young man without it being criminal.” (Sodomy was illegal at this time).

Then, in 1688, the Glorious Revolution occurred, in which the Immortal Seven – seven of the most influential, powerful men in England – invited William to take the throne from James II, his uncle/father-in-law, who was unpopular and Catholic. For a brief summary, click here,

William and Mary were crowned in 1689 at Westminster Abbey – he crowned in St. Edward’s Chair, she in a copy of the chair which is on display at the Abbey museum today. Mary was Queen regnant, like Elizabeth I had been (Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge will become Queen consort when her husband William becomes King, not Queen regnant). Mary, though unfortunately not given the same excellent education as Elizabeth I had had, was nevertheless a very intelligent woman and there were pamphlets at the time which depicted her as the new Elizabeth.

Together they purchased the home that would become Kensington Palace and they hired Christopher Wren to remodel both it and Hampton Court Palace.

Their joint reign was short-lived. In late 1694, Mary contracted hemorrhagic smallpox – the most deadly strain of the disease. She considerately sent anyone who had not already had the disease away from Kensington House and put her affairs in order. She went through her journal and ripped out and burned pages that she did not wish anyone else to see.  Mary, aged only 32, died in the early hours of the 28^th December, 1694, leaving her husband (who fainted) and the entire nation broken-hearted. To William, whose father had died of smallpox a week before he was born, and who also lost his mother to the same disease when he was ten, it was an earth-shattering blow. Her body lay in state in the Banqueting House until the costly funeral at Westminster Abbey, where “Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary” by Henry Purcell was played.

After Mary’s death, William ruled alone until his death in 1702, and in the intervening years he had become more unpopular, the target of several assassination attempts and he increasingly drank to excess. As he rode his favourite horse, Sorrel, out on Home Park, Hampton Court; the horse stumbled on a molehill, sending William flying off, breaking his collarbone in the fall. Within days pneumonia had set in and William III died at Kensington House. Loathed by his sister-in-law, Mary’s younger sister, now Queen Anne, he was interred with little fanfare. A sad end for someone once heralded as the Protestant Champion of Europe! 

Andrea (aka 17th Century Lady) is a 17th century historian specialising in the late Stuarts & the middle Baroque composers. She went to the University of Central Florida and Oxford University and is a Garden History tour guide at Kensington Palace.  She is currently writing a historical fiction book about William and Mary. You can find her at The Seventeenth Century Lady