Barbara Villiers, Lady Castlemaine, Duchess of Cleveland, was the most notorious mistress of The Merry Monarch, King Charles 2nd of England, who fathered 5 of her children. Her influence on the king was so great, and she was such a force to be reckoned with, that she has been referred to as "The Uncrowned Queen".
Her greed, bad temper, adultery with the king, and pernicious influence at court provoked the diarist John Evelyn to describe her as the "curse of the nation", whereas Samuel Pepys, lover of gossip and ever a sucker for a pretty face, wrote admiringly of Barbara on many occasions, while at the same time fretting over her influence on the king.
Babs is probably the most scandalous woman we've written about so far, and her exploits were pretty outrageous even by today's standards. Join us!
Opening music by Stefan Kartenburg, featuring Dimitri Artmenko on strings, and it's from dig.ccMixter. All other music used in the show is from copyright free music sites.
See our gallusgirlsandwaywardwomen.weebly.com site for show notes and sources.
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