English writer, John Evelyn, called her “the curse of the nation,” while politician Sir John Reresby called her “the finest woman of her age”. By all accounts, Barbara Palmer was a stunning beauty with dark hair, blue eyes, and a charismatic personality. She rose to fame as one of the numerous royal mistresses of King Charles II. Throughout her life and subsequent legacy, Barbara has elicited both revulsion and admiration. She was a woman born into an aristocratic but impoverished family who managed to climb to one of the most powerful positions at England’s Restoration Court. Her legacy is complicated by the scandalous role she played as royal mistress, but her wit and familial loyalty insured that her relatives and children reaped the benefit of her role for generations.
Guest: Best-selling author and historian, Dr. Linda Porter
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