Other Women Read Online Free

could not identify it so, as the legend goes, Edith the Fair, Harold’s long-time partner and the mother of his children, strode through the blood and gore and identified him by marks on his chest that were known only to her (romantic speculation claims they were the scars of love bites). Harold’s queen, Ealdgyth, was collected by two of her brothers, who presumably took her back to the heart of her home and people.

T HE MISTRESSES OF
K ING C HARLES II
    The seventeenth century was notable for the commonality of keeping a mistress, whether it was due to a craze or because Charles II made it fashionable. In fact, it was almost a social requirement that a gentleman have a long-standing liaison with a woman who was not his wife. Apparently Francis North, Lord Guilford was a gentleman who was considered to have neglected his duty by not keeping a mistress.

    Charles II
C HARLES, THE MAN
    If a monarch is born under the star of Venus is it any wonder that he often falls in love with beautiful women? King Charles II was born on 29 May 1630 under such a constellation and he certainly made it his business to love women.
    Charles II had no children with his wife, Catherine of Braganza. She suffered several miscarriages and stillbirths. In spite of the fact that Charles had sired a number of illegitimate children with various mistresses, England’s throne was to be handed to Charles’s brother James upon the king’s death.
T HE MISTRESSES
Lucy Walter
    Lucy Walter ( c. 1630–1658) is considered to be the first in a long line of Charles II’s mistresses. She is the first to have had a child that Charles admitted as his own. Unfortunately, Lucy came into Charles’s life when it was in turmoil. His royal father had been beheaded and he was in exile himself, and lacking regular funds. His attempt to win back the kingdom cost all of the money that his loyal supporters could scrape together; there was nothing left over with which to indulge a young woman with no dowry. Consequently Lucy’s life as the would-be king’s mistress was not a secure one and, when Charles went away on campaigns, Lucy was left without a provider. This meant that she was tempted to take other lovers, which did nothing to ensure trust and loyalty from Charles (he was not crowned king until 1661, long after his relationship with Lucy had fallen by the wayside).
    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