Gwyn, Nell

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Gwyn, Nell (1650–87). Born in 1650 in Hereford, Nell first worked as a barmaid in her mother's drinking-house and then as an orange-seller outside the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (London), before attracting the attention of Charles II, by which time she was a popular actress at the Theatre Royal itself. She became his mistress though sharing his affections with Louise de Kéroualle (duchess of Portsmouth) and others. Charles was infatuated not only by her physical appeal but also by her natural wit, boldness, and sparkle. The birth of two sons, Charles Beauclerk, later earl of Burford and duke of St Albans, on 8 May 1670 and James, on 25 December 1671, ensured that she remained in favour. But Charles's intention of creating her countess of Greenwich never materialized, emphasizing the social distinction made between the treatment of Nell and other royal mistresses. She remained, despite everything, ‘the darling strumpet of the crowd’. Following Charles's death in 1685, she was given Bestwood Park near Nottingham, where she lived until her own death following a stroke on 16 November 1687. She was buried at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London.

Sue Minna Cannon

The Oxford Companion to British History