Volume 15 Number 030 Eleanor Gwyn - II

Lead: In the aftermath of the puritan ascendency, in the 1660s England re-opened its theaters. There on the stage of King’s Theater on Drury Lane, acclaimed comedienne Eleanor “Nell” Gwyn auditioned for her greatest role.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: After nearly two decades of Puritan rule, the revival of English theater gave opportunity to actresses such as Nell Gwyn. By the age of 15, she had extracted herself from a dead job serving drinks at her mother's brothel and become England's most acclaimed comedienne. She captured the hearts of audiences and, eventually, that of the kingdom's most renowned theater lover, Charles Stuart, King of England.

In 1669, a year before her last performance, Nell was introduced to and became the mistress of the King. Of Charles II’s manifold mistresses, Nell was the only one loved by the public as much as by the King whose fondness for her was not a secret, so much so that she attained semi- official status at court.

Ordinary people loved the Cinderella nature of her story, and they loved her self-deprecating humor. Toward the end of the Exclusion Crisis when Protestants attempted to force the King to exclude his Catholic brother, James, Duke of York, from the line of succession to the throne, legend has it that Nell's coach was surrounded by an Oxford mob which mistook her for a pro-Yorkist Duchess. She is said to have leaned out of the coach and calmed them with, "pray good people be silent, I am the Protestant whore.” Her Protestant roots and essential native patriotism was well known in a country that had grown hostile to all things Catholic with people associating that religion with court excess and corruption.

In 1669, Nell became pregnant with Charles II’s fourteenth bastard and after his birth, named the boy Charles, after his father. The King purchased an elaborate home for Nell in London's exclusive Pall Mall, an act of extravagance that further solidified her position as the leading mistress in the King's stable. By the time she gave birth to their second son, James, her annual pension had grown to £4,000. Giving in to Nell’s wishes, Charles II later appointed her “lady of the privy chamber” and named their eldest son, Charles, the first Duke of St. Albans. She acted as a trusted advisor and attempted, but failed to reconcile the King with his rebellious son, the Duke of Monmouth. Nell was extravagant, but also quite generous benefiting in the popular mind from a reputation as a rich contributor to a number of charities. She even convinced Charles II to sponsor charitable causes such as the Royal Hospital for ex- servicemen.

Though it has not established as fact, at least one historian recorded that on his deathbed, after commending his children to his successor, James II, the dying King also expressed affection and concern for his most famous mistress pleading, “Let not poor Nelly starve.” Lending credence to this account, James paid off her debts and continued her pension until in 1687 the quintessential Cinderella died by stroke at the age of 37.

Research by Ashleigh Greene, at the University of Richmond, this is Dan Roberts.

Resources

Bax-Morrow, Clifford. “Pretty Witty Nell.” Time, April 18, 2007.

Conway, Allison. “Defoe’s Protestant Whore.” Eighteenth-Century Studies 35 (2002): 215-233.

Cunningham, Peter. The Story of Nell Gwyn. London: Navarre Society Limited, 1927.

“Gwyn, Nell.” In Encyclopedia Britannica. http://www.eb.com/eb/article-9038633 (accessed April 17, 2007).

Wynne, S. M. “Gwyn, Eleanor (1651-1687).” In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/11816 (accessed April 15, 2007).