Madame de Pompadour by François Boucher (Public Domain)

For as long as there have been kings, there have been royal mistresses. As royal marriages throughout history were made for political reasons, kings would often find love with a mistress. Many led colorful lives, mothered numerous illegitimate children or carried an enormous amount of influence over their royal lover. Often their names have become synonymous with scandal and notoriety, a fact that often ignores the true complexity of their lives. So here are ten things about Royal Mistresses that aren’t as well known as the commonly held femme fatale narrative.

Kings sometimes chose mistresses from the same family

Anne and Mary Boleyn certainly shared more than DNA; both of them also shared the bed of King Henry VIII of England. While Anne is certainly better known for later becoming Henry’s ill-fated second queen, it was actually her elder sister Mary who captured his affections first. Henry soon tired of Mary and quickly turned his attention towards her younger sister Anne, which soon changed the course of history.

Louis XV of France was also known to pick mistresses from the same family. Four of the five famous de Nesle sisters became his mistresses at around the same time. While having multiple family members as mistress to the king certainly came with its fair share of benefits, there was probably no shortage of awkward family dinners.

Nell Gwyn by Peter Lely (Public Domain)

Mistresses were often rivals with each other

Although having a mistress was a sign that a king wasn’t a one-woman man, some kings weren’t even a one-mistress man. This inevitably caused many rivalries between the mistresses as they competed to be the king’s favorite.

King Charles II of England was notorious for keeping many mistresses at a time. He fathered around 14 children with several women (none were with his wife). He also had no concerns about the status of his mistresses often obtaining them from the theater. Two such mistresses were Moll Davis and Nell Gwyn.

Moll Davis became the king’s mistress in about 1667; she often flaunted her status to the displeasure of members of the court. One such person was her rival Nell Gwyn, who was known for her sense of humor. One night when Nell heard that the king was planning to spend the night with Moll, Nell invited her to eat some meat, which unbeknownst to Moll had been mixed with laxatives. Obviously, Moll’s night with the king didn’t go well, and she was soon dismissed and Nell remained the king’s mistress until his death.

Barbara Villiers by Henri Gascar (Public Domain)

Some mistresses received titles for their service

King Charles II’s mistresses came from all walks of life, which was very unusual for kings of his time. King’s generally had small circles meaning that most of their mistresses came from noble families, as they were the people he was exposed to the most. Although if it was necessary, it wasn’t difficult for a king to create a title for his mistresses.

Two of Charles II’s mistresses became duchesses in their own right, Barbara Villiers became Duchess of Cleveland and Louise de Kerouaille became Duchess of Portsmouth. It was a move that was a far cry from any of his predecessors.

However, in France, the role of the chief mistress was a semi-official title. It even came with its own apartments in the royal palace. Louis XV even bought his mistress Madame de Pompadour a title that came with its own coat of arms.

Diane de Poitiers (Public Domain)

The pressure to be beautiful often led to early deaths

Thinking of the role of a royal mistress may conjure up images of beautiful women lounging around in luxurious royal palaces as the object of the king’s affection. However, the role came with a great deal of pressure to always be beautiful, desirable and available. There was also the constant risk of losing the position of official mistress if the king’s eye wandered to another young woman. To remedy this many took drastic measures to appear to retain the appearance of youth and beauty.

Henri II’s mistress Diane de Poitiers was considered to be a renowned beauty well into her old age. Although she was twenty years older than the king they always looked around the same age. Her beauty secret was an elixir containing gold chloride and diethyl ether. This elixir was certainly the cause of her death as when scientists were studying her hair they found it contained gold 500 times above normal levels. A symptom of chronic gold poisoning is white skin and de Poitiers herself was noted for her flawless porcelain skin.

Melusine von der Schulenburg (Public Domain)

Beauty wasn’t always the most important attribute

Although most royal mistresses throughout history were celebrated for their beauty some kings preferred other attributes. Various kings were attracted to intelligence or talent, while some just weren’t attracted to the beauty standards of the time.

King James II of England was known for having unattractive mistresses. The two most well known are Catherine Sedley and Arabella Churchill. His elder brother King Charles II often mocked him for his preferences in women.

King George I of Great Britain’s mistress Melusine von der Schulenburg wasn’t known for her beauty. She was a tall and thin at a time when beauty standards favored plumper women, which resulted in the nickname of “the Maypole.”

Henrietta Howard by Charles Jervas (Public Domain)

Many monarchs took mistresses only because it was expected of them

In the 18th century, it was expected that a king would keep mistresses. In fact, it was considered odd if a king didn’t keep any mistresses at all. Having a mistress was a sign of virility and masculinity, which made some kings take a mistress quite reluctantly.

George II of Great Britain was considered to have been very in love with his wife Caroline of Ansbach, but love was not enough to stop him from having mistresses. It wasn’t desire that motivated his decision; rather he thought having a mistress was something that he had to do.

George II’s most notable mistress was Henrietta Howard who he first encountered in Germany before his family relocated to Great Britain after his father became king. Henrietta was considered to be intelligent and charming and was the king’s mistress for a number of years. Due to George’s approach, Queen Caroline was never in doubt of his affection for her and Henrietta Howard even served as her lady in waiting!

Charles VI and Odette de Champdivers by Eugène Delacroix (Public Domain)

Some royal mistresses were handpicked by the queen

The queens of adulterous kings are generally regarded with a degree of pity, however, some queens weren’t too bothered if their husbands were entertained by another lady’s charms. In fact, some queens went so far as to choose their husband’s mistresses.

Isabeau of Bavaria was the Queen of King Charles VI of France, who suffered from mental illness even believing that he was made out of glass! While his mental illness certainly distressed Isabeau she was rumored to have become the lover of Charles’ brother. Isabeau, who was the victim of several of her husband’s violent episodes, was believed to have concocted a plan to replace herself with Odette de Champdivers.

Odette was known in France as “the little queen” and would often nurse the king when he was at his worst. It was even believed that Charles often mistook Odette for the Queen. She bore the king a daughter in 1407 and was at his side when he died.

Madame de Pompadour by François Boucher (Public Domain)

Mistresses sometimes acted as political advisors

By being in close proximity to the king on a daily basis, royal mistresses held a unique position of influence that rivaled even the king’s most trusted ministers. For some, this influence could even be comparable to that of a Prime Minister. One such woman was Madame de Pompadour, who as mistress of King Louis XV of France exercised great political influence that gave her many admirers and many enemies.

She was born into a family of financiers as Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson in 1721. As she grew up she was noted for her great beauty and intelligence, eventually catching the king’s eye at a ball in 1745. For the next five years, she acted as the king’s official mistress.

Her increasing poor health after suffering from numerous miscarriages meant that from the early 1750s she could no longer be the king’s lover. Instead of this being the catalyst of which she was removed from her powerful position, Madame de Pompadour cultivated an image for herself as the trusted friend and advisor to the king. From the 1750s up until her death in 1764, she essentially acted as a Prime Minister to the king. Her influence extended to domestic and international affairs, court patronage as well as having a great influence over the art and culture of the time. This wasn’t widely accepted by her contemporaries as she was viewed as wielding power beyond her station. This resulted in her being blamed for the disastrous events to affect France such as the Seven Years War, which was a humiliating setback for French foreign policy.

Jane Shore by William Blake (Public Domain)

Some mistresses faced cruel punishments for their activities

In the conservative Christian times of Medieval Europe, adultery was often frowned upon and Royal mistresses were often the objects of scorn. When no longer under the protection of the king, many royal mistresses faced cruel punishments.

One such mistress was Elizabeth ‘Jane’ Shore who was the mistress of King Edward IV of England. She was born the daughter of a wealthy merchant in 1445 and later married goldsmith and banker William Shore, although their marriage was annulled in 1476, the same year she became the king’s mistress.

Edward called Jane the merriest of his mistresses, and she had a large amount of influence over his decisions. Upon his death in 1483 his brother Richard Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III) became the Lord Protector, as King Edward V was a minor. This angered Edward IV’s widow, Queen Elizabeth Woodville and Jane Shore became instrumental in bringing an alliance between the Queen and her new lover William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings. Richard then accused Jane and the Queen of using witchcraft at Hasting’s behest. Although the witchcraft accusations were dropped, Hastings was beheaded and Jane was forced to take public penitence for adultery.

Jane was forced to walk barefoot in nothing but her underclothes through the streets of London with a taper in her hand. It was designed to be a humiliating punishment, however; the crowds that gathered around her felt nothing but sympathy and pity for her plight.

Catherine I of Russia Jean-Marc Nattier (Public Domain)

There were mistresses who eventually became queen

The purpose of royal mistresses emerged due to the fact that a king’s marriage was for political purposes only. However, many kings defied this expectation by marrying their mistresses.

Usually, this was done as a morganatic marriage, which meant that the woman couldn’t acquire the title of Queen Consort. This was seen with the marriage of Louis XIV of France and Madame de Maintenon. Although there were some women who were able to become queen and have their children become monarchs. One of these women was Catherine I of Russia.

Catherine was born as Marta Skowronska in 1684, she was orphaned at the age of three and was subsequently raised by a Lutheran pastor in Marienburg. When the Russians seized Marienburg, Catherine was taken prisoner and this eventually led to her introduction to the tsar Peter the Great.

The two soon became lovers and had a number of children, they were later married in 1712 and Catherine was crowned as Empress consort in 1724. Peter the Great died in 1725 without naming an heir, which prompted Catherine’s candidacy to the throne. In 1726, she became the Empress of Russia, however, her reign was short-lived as she died in 1727. Her daughter Elizabeth and later her grandson Peter III (husband of Catherine the Great) both became rulers of Russia.