Charles was said to have a very low boredom threshold he loved to be entertained and he loved women. There was no doubt Charles II loved sex and he had a succession of mistresses while he was married to Queen Catherine of Braganza. There was a lot going on during the King’s rule the plague, the great fire of London to name just two.Ĭourtier John Evelyn said Charles would have been an excellent king “if he had been less addicted to women.”
He was also known as the “Merry Monarch” and seems to have truly lived up to his name when it came to the pursuit of women. Ruling England from 1660 until his death in 1685, King Charles II was famously nicknamed “Old Rowley” in honour of an old racehorse that became a famous stud stallion. King Charles II of England was the first king to use condoms but still managed to have six children. RELATED: The deadly sweating sickness that terrified King Henry VIII RELATED: Mary Queen of Scots: Inside her gruesome beheading RELATED: Truth behind Queen Elizabeth’s white ‘clown face’ makeup It was 350 years ago this month that King Charles II cemented his reputation as the ultimate royal playboy when he fell for English actress Nell Gwyn in 1669, even though he was married and juggling at least six other mistresses.īut were the Kings addicted to sex? Or were they just doing what kings are supposed to do? Let’s take a look at the monarchs who set the scene for a risqué court where hedonism was the name of the game. Neither King was terribly fussy and they certainly were not snobs happily taking their pickings from noblewomen and actresses as well as prostitutes.
And, with his specially designed sex chair he was easily able to entertain two ladies at once. King Edward VII was said to have at least three to four women a week for 50 years. King Charles II was the first king to use condoms but still managed to have six children as well as at least 14 “official bastards” by seven different mothers. They were two of the most “lustful” Kings of England and they worked well to cultivate their reputation as being the ultimate symbols of virility.