Other Women (4 page)

Lucy Walter was born in the same year as Charles II. Her parents were Richard (or William) Walter of Roch Castle in Wales and his wife, Elizabeth Protheroe. They were a noble family who were staunch Royalists during the Civil War, for which their property was seized and razed to the ground by the Parliamentarians. It is thought that Lucy was born in Wales, but moved to London in her childhood after the destruction of her family home. It is also a possibility that her parents had separated and that Lucy and her mother were living as best they could amongst other Royalists, in a state of upheaval.

Lucy Walter

Exactly what she did in her teenage years and with whom is largely conjecture. Samuel Pepys and Lord Clarendon have written that she had already indulged in a number of sexual affairs before she left England for Holland, by way of Paris, at age 18. One of her lovers was supposedly Algernon Sidney, second son of the Earl of Leicester and a Parliamentary supporter. After a fling with Algernon, Lucy is said to have moved on to the younger brother, Robert. Other sources say that Lucy went with Robert to The Hague, travelling under the adopted name Barlow. Yet another version is that Lucy was taken to Paris by an uncle and from there she found her way into Holland, where she had her initial encounter with Charles in exile.

Whichever story is true, the fact is that Lucy met Charles in The Hague in the year 1648 and had an affair with him. Charles left Holland not long after he and Lucy conceived a child. It was during this time that rumours arose about the possibility of the child’s father being Robert Sidney, as it is believed that Lucy had a liaison with Robert during Charles’s absence.

When Charles returned to The Hague he settled back into his relationship with Lucy, who bore their son James in 1649. Charles seemingly had no doubt that the child was his and later bestowed upon him the title of 1st Duke of Monmouth. Lucy and Charles remained a couple until he left for Jersey (Lucy may have accompanied him for part of that time) and then to Scotland in 1650. Alone in Holland, Lucy turned to other men to provide for her. To one of them she bore a daughter, Mary. When Charles finally returned he did not acknowledge the child as his and made it clear to Lucy that their relationship was truly at an end. There are sources that claim there were several intimate meetings between them after this, one even as late as 1656.

Lucy’s life gradually deteriorated from then on. Charles did not give in to her constant demands for money and he tried hard to get custody of his son, by means fair or foul. At one point Charles tried to take the boy by force. A kidnapping was successful in 1658 and James was taken from his mother to Paris. Lucy, desperate to get her son back, followed him to France, but before she could find him she was taken ill and died. As she lay dying she told John Cosin, who would later become Bishop of Durham, that she was the legal wife of Charles II. This is a claim that Lucy had made several times throughout her life but there had never been any evidence to support it. Indeed, if there had been any truth in it then Lucy would have been in danger of committing bigamy – as it is known that she seriously contemplated marriage with Sir Henry de Vic. Given that Charles was ready to approve the match, it is unlikely that he and Lucy had ever been officially married.

The supporters of Charles’s brother James, in their bid to see him succeed to the English throne, did everything they could to discredit James of Monmouth in order to lessen his claim to it. They even blackened his mother’s name, claiming she was of low parentage and of no consequence. A memoir written by a member of the court of James II records that Lucy Walter died of syphilis, which may well have been a deliberate slur contrived to discredit her.

After Charles ended his affair with Lucy she did take on more lovers and it is possible that with such a promiscuous lifestyle she may have contracted venereal disease. One of her lovers was Lord Theobald Taffe, an Anglo-Irishman who was one of the exiled prince’s main confidantes. Taffe was in all probability the father of Mary Walter, Lucy’s daughter. It was Taffe to whom Charles appealed to ask that he urge discretion on Lucy in the aftermath of the couple’s failed relationship. Taffe was to tell Lucy to leave The Hague, as it was too public and was in neither her interest nor Charles’s that she was in such close proximity to him. Taffe was also entrusted with the duty to arrange a monetary allowance to keep Lucy and the children. Unfortunately Lucy had been the mistress of an exiled prince, not an established king, and money was never in great abundance or handed out regularly enough to keep her from accepting protection from other lovers.

A couple of years before her death Lucy took her two children back home to England. Whatever thought was behind the action, the result was that she was arrested by Cromwell. While imprisoned she was referred to both as Charles’s wife and his mistress. The former title held no weight: it was not believed and she was released and allowed to return to Holland.

The diarist John Evelyn refers to Lucy Walters as a Mrs Barlow. He describes her as being brown and beautiful but insipid in nature. Later, after Charles II’s death, Evelyn called her a strumpet, although he still remembered she had been beautiful. He claims Lucy was of low birth and that in his opinion there was certainly doubt as to the true paternity of her son James Monmouth. Pepys claims that he could see a strong resemblance to the younger Sidney brother. This may have been in response to the fact that Monmouth had been arrested and tried for treason against the king, for which he was executed.

Lucy Walter was unlucky to have lived in a time of turmoil, when Royalists were stripped of land and money – and becoming a mistress to one meant leaving oneself open to penury. If Lucy had managed to stay close to Charles until 1651 then she could have been the mistress to a king, and may well have managed to secure herself a lifetime’s pension and comfort. Instead she was seen as nothing more than a nuisance to Charles, and his prospects, and he treated her with little regard even though she was the mother of his eldest son.

In 2012 DNA tests were made concerning James Monmouth. The results strongly suggest that Charles II was indeed his father.

Barbara Villiers (1640–1709) was born into the gentry. Her father was William Villiers, the 2nd Viscount Grandison, who also happened to be a nephew to the Duke of Buckingham. Barbara’s mother, Mary Bayning, was the daughter of the 1st Viscount Bayning and an heiress to her father’s estate. As a staunch Royalist family there was no denying that Barbara had the right credentials to become the King of England’s mistress.

As with many of the royal supporters during the time of England’s Civil War, Barbara’s family suffered many losses. First, her father used much of the estate’s money to fund his part in the war, which left the family in reduced circumstances. Then he was killed at the Battle of Newbury in 1643; Barbara was only 4 years old. Not long after his death Mary Villiers married a cousin of her late husband’s, Charles Villiers, 2nd Earl of Anglesey. The marriage may have provided some stability to the mother and daughter but money was still in very short supply. Charles Villiers, like his late cousin, was a Royalist and, after Charles I was executed in 1649, the family became supporters of the dead king’s son.

Barbara Palmer

Barbara Villiers was beautiful, clever and witty enough to attract many would-be suitors, until they discovered that she was almost penniless. At that time, not many men could afford to marry for love alone. Barbara’s first paramour was Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield. Yet the match was not going to be anything more than a romance as Stanhope was in need of a wife with a good dowry.

At age 19 Barbara married Roger Palmer, 1st Earl of Castlemaine (this is the name that Barbara was often referred to by contemporary diarists of the time), who was a devout Catholic. The marriage was not to the liking of the groom’s family; Roger’s father told him that Barbara would make him a very unhappy man. He was not wrong. Barbara ended up having six children of whom it is thought that not one of them was Roger’s.

As supporters of the exiled Prince Charles, Roger and his wife travelled to The Hague shortly after their marriage. It was here that Barbara met Charles and quickly became his foremost mistress. It was for services rendered (probably Barbara’s not Roger’s) that the title of Castlemaine was bestowed upon the couple in 1661 after Charles was restored to the throne.

When Charles II ascended the throne he was in want of a suitable wife. Kings, queens, princes and princesses rarely had a say in the lifelong partners chosen for them. Marriage was usually a political and economic business deal. Charles II married the Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza. Barbara made sure that her second child with Charles was born at Hampton Court while the royal couple were on honeymoon.

Unlike poor Lucy Walter, Barbara Palmer was openly acknowledged as the king’s mistress and was given the position of the Lady of the Bedchamber. The queen, knowing who and what Barbara was, argued strongly against the appointment. Yet her pleas were unheeded and Barbara was installed at the heart of the royal household. For the queen’s defence there was at least one strong advocate, Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon who, as the king’s adviser, spoke against Barbara’s employment. The queen and her Lady of the Bedchamber did not become friends. Barbara made sure that the queen knew how things stood between herself and the king.

As Charles II took other mistresses his passion for Barbara declined. While she was still relatively young though, the flame would rekindle and, as a result, at least five children were born to Barbara and Charles.

In 1663 Barbara publicly announced her conversion to Catholicism. What her motives were are unclear. It is thought that she could have been trying to increase her influence with the Protestant king, who felt pulled towards Catholicism himself, or it may have been because of something to do with Roger Palmer, Barbara’s estranged husband; whatever the reason it was certainly for personal gain.

Barbara Palmer enjoyed the status of being the king’s mistress, she enjoyed the financial position it put her in and the titles she was able to claim through it. She was not averse to dabbling in politics either, though not that she had a large degree of sway in that area.

In 1670, at the age of 30, Charles II made Barbara a very handsome gift of Phoenix Park in Dublin and named her Baroness Nonsuch (a title to go with Nonsuch Palace, which she owned). It was well in the way of being a payoff for her long and faithful service. At 30, Barbara would have been considered old and the king had replaced her several times over. The young actress Nell Gwyn had replaced Barbara as Charles’s favourite long-term mistress. In fact Barbara was asked to vacate her premises in the Whitehall Apartments so that the young Nell could be installed there. In 1672 Barbara produced a sixth child, another girl, but the king refused to name it as his own. This was a definite sign that sexual relations were over between them.

Barbara’s position as royal mistress and insider came to an end in 1676. An Act of Parliament was passed making it illegal for a Catholic to hold office. The queen’s hated Lady of the Bedchamber was sacked.

Barbara took her four youngest children and spent the next three to four years in Paris, where she took a number of lovers. In the last days of Charles’s life it is recorded that he spent them in the company of three of his favourite women: Barbara, Nell and Louise de Kérouaille.

After Charles’s death Barbara took up with some undesirable men, one of whom, Cardonell Goodman, an actor, she is supposed to have had a child with in 1686. In 1705 her husband Roger Palmer died and Barbara was free to marry again, which she did so with Major General Robert ‘Beau’ Fielding. The major was only after her fortune and, as he was already married, Barbara was able to prosecute him for bigamy. She died four years later in 1709 of dropsy.

Moll (
c
.1648–1708) was an actress and singer born in Westminster, apparently illegitimately to Colonel Howard, 3rd Earl of Berkshire. Obviously her father did not think his connection with her was sufficient to have any kind of upbringing that would prepare her to be a lady. In the 1660s Moll joined the ‘Duke’s Theatre Company’ and lived with the family of the manager, Sir William Davenant.