Customer Reviews

Nell Gwyn: Mistress to a King

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Far more than a mere recitation of dry facts, Charles Beauclerk's biography of the magical life of Nell Gwyn displays rare insight into the human condition, which insights one soon realizes are acutely applicable to the here-and-now of politics, art, and the mysterious attachments of the heart. To history, Nell Gwyn was (pg. 297) "...the stuff of legend, the girl from the slums who had won the heart of a king." In the author's hands, however, this story of love reciprocated (for such it was) is more than romance- it shines a spotlight on the theater of politics and power which was the 17th century and still is today, in which nothing is as it seems to be, and fame provides a most convincing disguise for the truth. Beauclerk's evident erudition is worn lightly, and in this biography the richly comedic serves to illustrate the philosophical. Beautifully written, the author's style is both polished and relaxed, not unlike the later diaries of James Lees-Milne, with a limpid clarity of prose interspersed with surprising imagery, like his description of the Protestant rabble-rouser Titus Oates, (p. 279) "His mouth, we are told, was in the centre of his face, and he was built like an orc, with short bandy legs and long lifeless arms." On nearly every page one finds apt insights as, for example (p. 293) referring to the death of Nell's mother, "...like many alcoholics, old Madam Gwyn probably found a way of abandoning decent surroundings for a life of misery somewhere." The world of Charles Stuart and Nell Gwyn was a theatre, both metaphorically and literally, and whether on stage or at court everyone acted a part. In his biography of Nell, the plays of Dryden, Marvell, and others are neatly dissected by Charles Beauclerk to reveal unexpected depths of meaning. Nell was above all a comedienne, a star in her own right whose alliance with the saturnine, tricksy Charles Stuart made them the most successful double act of the 17th century. And there is, of course, the well-known account of Nell, whose coach being attacked by a mob mistaking her for the King's French (and Roman Catholic) mistress Louise de Keroualle, ordered her driver to stop, and flinging open the window (p. 307) "...cried out good-humouredly, 'Pray, good people, be civil, I am the PROTESTANT whore!' Immediately, the curses turned to cheers, caps were tossed in the air, and a path cleared for her coach. Waving and smiling, she passed on." And so, waving and smiling, Nell's brightly shining spirit has been well and truly awakened in this present biography.

The Restoration period in England is especially dear to historians--it provides so many interesting anecdotes and biographies, among them that of the King himself, Charles II. The sufferings of his youth, when he was hunted like a dog by his father's enemies, would seem more the stuff of fiction than fact if we didn't know it to be true. But Charles is probably better known for the many mistresses he acquired later, once his country returned him to the throne. Of these, the most interesting and famous is surely the actress turned Royal Mistress, Nell Gwynn.

Although the reign of Charles II is famous for its bawdy wit and licentious behavior, for the most part, it simply saw a return to the kind of healthy fun the English people had been denied during twenty years of repressive Puritan rule. Bawdy wit and licentious behavior was really only true of a handful of rakish pranksters whose antics have come down in history because they were well-reported. Typical of this group was Charles's friend, the poet John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, whose father had been given the earldom for military service to the Crown during the King's years in exile. Although Rochester's reputation as a genuine poet has suffered from his bad behavior, the 19th-century critic William Hazlitt stated that although Rochester's "contempt for everything that others respect almost amounts to sublimity . . . his verses cut and sparkle like diamonds." Of Charles, Rochester once teased: "He never said a foolish thing, nor ever did a wise one," to which Charles replied: "That is true, for my words are my own, but my actions are those of my ministers."

Among this group of wild and unruly poets and playwrights, beautiful Nell Gwynn held her own as a commedienne and entertainment star, qualities she took with her to Court when she rose to the status of Royal Mistress. Nell was the only one of Charles II's many mistresses who was genuinely popular with the English public. It is thought she persuaded the King to do the things he did to help the people, among them build the Royal Hospital in London for ex-servicemen.

Nell had two sons by the King, Charles and James Beauclerk. There are two versions of how Charles acquired the Earldom of Burford (both unverifiable). The first has it that one day, upon the arrival of the King, Nell, surrounded by a circle of friends, called out to her six-year-old, "Come here you little bastard and say hello to your father." When the King protested her language, she replied: "Your Majesty has given me no other name by which to call him." So Charles made him the Earl of Burford. The other version claims that out of frustration after months of unfulfilled promises, one day Nell grabbed her son and hung him out of a window, threatening to drop him unless the boy was granted a peerage, whereupon the frightened but quick-witted King cried out, "God save the Earl of Burford!"

These and many more such anecdotes are related here by the boy's descendant, another Charles Beauclerk, whose telling of his family history suggests that, along with their names and their stories, he's inherited a good share of his ancestors' wit and originality.

Nell Gwyn is by way of being an English folk heroine. Only with the 1660 "Restoration" of the British monarchy were women allowed on the stage. Indeed, all Shakespeare's heroines had been played by men. Emerging from a background of poverty and obscurity, the teenage Nell rose to stardom as the best comic actress of the London Restoration stage in the 1660's. Beautiful, witty, unabashedly outspoken, Nell caught the eye and heart of the restored Stuart King, Charles II. In a time when class conscious snobbery extended even to the King's mistress, commoners were not welcome, and Nell's pointed humor and uninhibited ways stood in sharp contrast to the mannered, calculating world of the court. Then as now, people enjoyed gossip about notable figures, so Londoners came to feel strong affection for this untrammeled sprite. Beauclerk's brilliant depiction of the worlds of stage and politics, coupled with his penetrating analysis of character, bring Nell, Charles II, and their turbulent world to life. This is a touching love story, for Nell was the King's dear friend as well as his totally loyal lover throughout their seventeen years together, which ended only with his death in 1685. Beauclerk is a direct descendant of Nell and Charles's son, so a last chapter telling how the family has fared from then to the present adds and interesting coda to this lively tale.

Charles Beauclerk's vibrant narrative of Nell Gwyn's amazing life is much more than a terrific biography. This richly woven portrait of a woman and her era is a masterwork of literature that draws you completely into its own world. I couldn't put it down and kept hoping that it wouldn't end.
Anyone fortunate enough to attend one of Beauclerk's powerful, inspiring talks on English literature and history already knows that here is a unique individual voice, destined to draw a wide following. Without hesitation I predict he will be counted among the brightest thinkers and writers of his generation.
Charles Beauclerk's first book could have no more fitting heroine than the incomparable Nell Gwyn, from whom he is directly descended. Finally this legendary mistress of Charles II has a biographer who knows his subject and can bring her to life. My advice is to grab a copy and settle into a comfortable chair and surrender to the capable hands of this brilliant young writer. Beauclerk's sharp eye never overlooks a significant detail and his ever-present sense of humor never misses the chance to share a smile or a laugh.
And when the inevitable movie comes out, you will say with conviction: "Oh, but you should really read the book!"

The other reviews of Nell Gwyn at this site seem to come from people steeped in Restoration history. But you don't have to be an historian to enjoy this book. The author, Charles Beauclerk, is the direct descendant King Charles II and his mistress, Nell Gwyn. He writes in clear, easy to read sentences. Nonetheless, he is impressively erudite. Gradually, with painstaking research, he recreates Nell, the people important in her life, and the world they lived in. In keeping with his fun-loving main characters, Beauclerk writes with humor and tenderness. I am sure Charles and Nell would approve!

Unlike many people who write about their famous ancestors, Beauclerk does not fall into the trap of either apologizing for or aggrandizing them. He depicts Nell as uncultured with a warm, open, boisterous personality, a trenchant wit, and winning charm.

A rich, complex picture of the Restoration emerges. Beauclerk depicts a frenzied reaction to previous years of Civil War and Puritan rule, which gave rise to a renaissance in theater and literature, horse racing, scientific inquiry, extravagance, and licentiousness. Political intrigue was rampant.

Charles II was the right king for the times. He emerges as a complex man with towering strengths and weaknesses. Charles was a master at snuffing out political plots. His religious tolerance and political moderation gave the nation a brief respite between the Puritans and the stogy continental royalty who followed. Fortuitously, his behavior and interests reflected those of the nation during that period.

Nell Gwyn is also an attack on the British class system. Beauclerk, descendant of royalty and the cockney slums, has a unique point of view. A reluctant aristocrat himself, he understands why aristocrats constantly disparaged lower class Nell. Probably because of Nell's class origins even her beloved Charles occasionally neglected her. For example, although all of Charles' other highborn principal mistresses received lands and titles, presumably because of Nell's lowly origins, Charles never bestowed a title or much land on her. (But he did give their son a bankrupt Dukedom.) By contrast, in America, where classes are more fluid, Ronald Reagan whose biography was similar to Nell - a movie star with lower class origins - reached the pinnacle of American society when he won the Presidency. Most Americans thought his lower class origins were admirable.

Nell Gwyn is a rich and fascinating book. It is never dry or boring. I would recommend it to anyone who doesn't require a fast moving plot in order to enjoy a book.

For any serious student of history, this book is a poorly constructed, little cited foray into the author's fantasy about who his ancestress was. The only chapter I've discovered that seemed to have a basis in concrete contemporary sources was a chapter about Nell Gwyn's household accounts.
Large segments of the book are devoted to 'what Nell must have thought/must have felt/must have done.' No proof is cited...
It's a frustrating read because it is impossible to tell if there really is any truth to what the author supposes. As a descendant of Nell Gwyn and Charles II, it's clear the author chooses to paint both parties and their relationship in the warmest light. He also denegrates Charles' relationships with other mistresses. All of these occur (again) without any proof.
The author hardly has any endnotes and his bibliography comes primarily from books far after the actual time.
Overall, it reads as historical fiction with an accurate timeline of events.

I lived for a while by Nell Gwyn's house in Newmarket, Suffolk, England and so was interested in her greatly. I've read biographies of Charles II and had a perspective of his mistresses. The details of Nell's life are great; however, as a descendent of Charles II and Nell Gwyn, Mr Beauclerk's bias is obvious. His descriptions of the other mistresses are vicious at times. A great perspective of Restoration England.

I've been prone to reading about the Tudors so the Stuarts and the merry merry life of Charles II was new to me. Beauclerk's readable biography of his famous ancestors has really piqued my interest in the Stuarts.

He notes in the text that 15 biographies have been written about Nell. Not having read any of them, I don't know how this one differs, but it reflects the author's broad knowledge of Restoration theater and poetry. He depicts the strange sort of liberation that followed Cromwell. He describes the changing role of women who now had a crack at few careers besides prostitution such as orange vending, acting, playwriting, and, well, courtesanship.

The author is disciplined and sticks with his subject. He gives us enough background in Restoration politics so that we can understand Nell's (precarious) position.

Nell's success in her short life was certainly made possible by the times in which she lived. The King's early life required normal socializing with commoners. Without this, his life and court might have been more like any other, with not so many out of wedlock children, and certainly none acknowledged. Nell would have had absolutely NO access were Charles' succession linear.

Nell must have been a real card. I'm trying to think of a contemporary equivalent, and cannot. The description of the bed she had carved (and the cost of it) really takes the cake! It's hard to imagine her lack of prentense in the world in which she moved.

The final chapter on her many descendants from her one surviving son is interesting. There were too many to keep track of but the general discussion is heavy with the weight of the British class system.

That Beauclerk has written of his foremother, not of his forefather, is a sign of our times. It has been all too frequent for children to "reach up" to the male for prestige, career and/or status, as Beauclerk notes that the Duke of Monmouth does. This is often accompanied by ignoring or insulting the mother and what she brings to the match. Beauclerk does not minimize his royal line of which he could very well boast (I'm a descendant of a king!) He celebrates the intellegence talent, wit and adventuresome spirit that is part of his matrilineal side.

After reading the book I checked Wikipedia and learned that Princess Diana is a direct descendant of both Barbara Palmer AND Louise de Keroualle and Charles II, and that Camilla is a descendant of Louise de Keroualle and Charles II!

Beauclerk is a scholar who did his homework and invests years of research in his fascinating, eye-opening biography. He casts a fresh eye not only on Nell, but also on Charles II and Restoration London. I have studied the Restoration for decades and Beauclerk has given me a new perspective on the people and the period. He might be accused by some of "going easy" on his famous ancestors, but he gives the characters an emotional depth which brings out their humanity. Charles and Nell no longer seem like the oddest of odd couples in history, rather they seem like a curiously perfect match, odd only in that, given their disparate stations in life, they actually found each other.

Far more than a mere recitation of dry facts, Charles Beauclerk's biography of the magical life of Nell Gwyn displays rare insight into the human condition, which insights one soon realises are acutely applicable to the here-and-now of politics, art, and the mysterious attachments of the heart. To history, Nell Gwyn was all to often misunderstoond to be merely (pg. 297) "...the stuff of legend, the girl from the slums who had won the heart of a king." In the author's hands, however, this story of love reciprocated (for such it was) is more than romance- it shines a spotlight on the theatre of politics and power which was the 17th century and still is today, in which nothing is as it seems to be, and fame provides a most convincing disguise for the truth. Beauclerk's evident erudition is worn lightly, and in this biography the richly comedic serves to illustrate the philosophical. Beautifully written, the author's style is both polished and relaxed, not unlike the later diaries of James Lees-Milne, with a limpid clarity of prose interspersed with surprising imagery, like his description of the Protestant rabble-rouser Titus Oates, (p. 279) "His mouth, we are told, was in the centre of his face, and he was built like an orc, with short bandy legs and long lifeless arms." On nearly every page one finds apt insights as, for example (p. 293) referring to the death of Nell's mother, "...like many alcoholics, old Madam Gwyn probably found a way of abandoning decent surroundings for a life of misery somewhere." The world of Charles Stuart and Nell Gwyn was a theatre, both metaphorically and literally, and whether on stage or at court everyone acted a part. In his biography of Nell, the plays of Dryden, Marvell, and others are neatly dissected by Charles Beauclerk to reveal unexpected depths of meaning. Nell was above all a comedienne, a star in her own right whose alliance with the saturnine, tricksy Charles Stuart made them the most successful double act of the 17th century. And there is, of course, the well-known account of Nell, whose coach being attacked by a mob mistaking her for the King's French (and Roman Catholic) mistress Louise de Keroualle, ordered her driver to stop, and flinging open the window (p. 307) "...cried out good-humouredly, 'Pray, good people, be civil, I am the PROTESTANT whore!' Immediately, the curses turned to cheers, caps were tossed in the air, and a path cleared for her coach. Waving and smiling, she passed on." And so, waving and smiling, Nell's brightly shining spirit has been well and truly awakened in this present biography.