Nell Gwyn: Actress and Royal Mistress
Not Just the Tudors
History Hit
4.8 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 10 February 2025
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How did a lowly orange seller become the most famous actress of her time and mistress of King Charles II?
In 1660, King Charles II ruled that female stage roles must be played by women, leading to the rise of the 'Covent Garden Goddesses'. As a result, Nell Gwyn - born 375 years ago this month - went from being a humble orange seller to a celebrated actress and Charles II's most enduring and famous mistress.
Professor Suzannah Lipscomb explores how Nell Gwyn became an 'It girl' - one of England's first celebrities and cherished folk heroine - with Professor Laura Engel and Charles Beauclerk, Earl of Burford, a direct descendant of Nell Gwyn and King Charles II.
Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Alice Smith, audio editor is Amy Haddow and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.
Theme music from All3Media. Other music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb. |
| 0:02.4 | If you'd like not just the Tudors ad-free to get early access and bonus episodes, |
| 0:08.4 | sign up to History Hit. |
| 0:09.9 | With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries, |
| 0:15.2 | including my own, on Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, Brilliant Rivals. |
| 0:19.3 | And enjoy a new release every week. |
| 0:22.0 | Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com forward slash subscribe. |
| 0:27.6 | Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb and welcome to not just the Tudors from History Hit, |
| 0:33.3 | the podcast in which we explore everything from Anne Boleyn to the Aztecs, |
| 0:37.7 | from Holbein to the Huguenots, from Shakespeare to Samarise. |
| 0:43.1 | Relieved by regular doses of murder, espionage and witchcraft. |
| 0:47.6 | Not in other words just the Tudors, but most definitely also the Tudors. |
| 1:07.8 | The year is 1660, and King Charles II has issued an edict that all female roles on the London stage are now to be played by women, a decree that would see the rise of the so-called Covent Garden goddesses |
| 1:14.5 | as the original It Girls. |
| 1:16.8 | At the centre of this new cult of celebrity was Nell Gwynn, |
| 1:21.4 | whose enduring mythology is one of fascinating contradiction. |
| 1:25.1 | An orange seller who became the most famous actress of her time, |
| 1:29.0 | a famed wit who was likely illiterate, a commoner who held the favour and interest of the |
| 1:35.2 | king for almost two decades. Heralded as a great beauty and defamed as a whore. So how did the |
| 1:42.3 | woman known as the wildest creature that ever was in court |
| 1:45.3 | become one of England's great folk heroines? Today I'm joined by Dr. Laura Engle, Professor of English |
| 1:53.8 | at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. An art and theatre historian, Laura's work |
... |
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