Skip to main content
Home

User menu logged out

  • Subscribe
  • Sign in

Subscription
Offers

Give a Gift

Main menu

  • Home
  • The Magazine
  • Subscribe
  • Buy the Current Issue
  • Explore the Digital Archive
  • Institutions
  • Reviews
  • Sign in
Home

Mini header menu

  • Search
  • Magazine
  • Latest
  • Subscribe

Subscribe

Feature

Leading Ladies

The French tradition of the royal mistress gave new opportunities for women at the court of Charles II.

Annalisa Nicholson | Published in History Today Volume 70 Issue 8 August 2020

Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland with her son, possibly Charles FitzRoy, by Peter Lely, c.1664. Philip Mould & Company/Bridgeman Images.

To continue reading this article you need to purchase a subscription, available from only £5.

Start my trial subscription now

If you have already purchased access, or are a print & archive subscriber, please ensure you are logged in.

Please email digital@historytoday.com if you have any problems.

BritainCharles II

Related Articles

HomeFront.jpg
On the Home Front
Charles_II_(1675).jpg
Charles II: The Reality Behind the Merry Monarchy

Popular articles

Plates from an album of spirit photographs, attributed to Frederick Hudson, 1872. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.
Fake Views: Victorian Spirit Photography and its Critics
A V-2 rocket launch at Cape Canaveral, 24 July 1950. NASA. Public Domain.
How Has Space Exploration Changed History?

Recently published

A V-2 rocket launch at Cape Canaveral, 24 July 1950. NASA. Public Domain.
How Has Space Exploration Changed History?
A parade in Salamanca celebrates the occupation of Gijón by Francoist troops, September 1937. Geopix/Alamy Stock Photo.
‘El Generalísimo’ by Giles Tremlett book review
Fernand Braudel illustration © Ben Jones/Heart Agency.
The Transformations of Fernand Braudel

Most read

  1. How Has Space Exploration Changed History?
  2. The Transformations of Fernand Braudel
  3. ‘El Generalísimo’ by Giles Tremlett book review
  4. ‘The Second Emancipation’ by Howard W. French
  5. ‘Killing the Dead’ by John Blair review
X
Get Miscellanies, our free weekly long read, in your inbox every week

Footer menu

  • About
  • Masthead
  • Contact
  • Jobs
  • Advertising
  • RSS feeds
  • Submit an Article
  • Back Issues
  • Binders
  • Cookie policy
  • Awards
  • Students
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms of Use
  • X
  • Instagram
  • Bluesky
  • Facebook

© Copyright 2025 History Today Ltd. Company no. 1556332.