PH You'd look miserable, too, if your wig was crawling with lice... Keira Knightley in The Duchess.

Everybody loves a nice, cosy Jane Austen adaptation on TV. The fabulous frocks, fans, feathers and finery soothe us with images of a gentler, well-mannered time when gentlemen in cravats and breeches wooed perfumed gentlewomen across ballrooms and well-manicured lawns. The reality was not quite so lovely. Life for Georgian women, even of high birth, was harsh enough in a time when men still held all the power and husbands could beat and even rape their wives. Noblewomen caught diseases passed on from their husband's prostitutes and were still subjected to confinement and the barbaric medical practice of bleeding when pregnant. Even their fashions and frippery provided cold comfort when their make-up poisoned them, unwashed dresses and undergarments stank and their fancy foods made their teeth rot and fall out. Laura Purcell's powerful new book, Queen of Bedlam, is the first in a series examining the women at the Georgian court and takes an eye-opening look at the triumphs and trials of Queen Charlotte and her marriage to "mad' King George III. In a exclusive feature for Express.co.uk Purcell exposes the hardships and horrors that faced even the highest women in the land in the 18th century. Keep scrolling as Laura Purcell lifts the lid on life for Georgian women

CHANNEL FOUR Dying to be beautiful: the lead-based pale powders poisoned and sometimes killed Georgian women

1. POOR HYGIENE Despite their elegant appearance, Georgian women carried a world of stench. While hands and faces would be washed daily, immersive bathing was considered bad for the health and was only indulged in occasionally. The heavy gowns of the period would have caused the wearer to sweat profusely, with only perfumes such as rose water and orange blossom to mask the smell. The clothes themselves would also be pungent. Due to the huge amount of work involved in laundering, most households would have a maximum of one wash-day a month. Linen undergarments were changed as often as possible, but their "clean" smell would still be unappealing to us. Linen was often bleached in chamber lye, a kind of soap made from ashes and urine.

Penis size, virginity and fetishes: 11 shocking sex stats revealed Tue, February 23, 2016 If you have ever wondered how you measure up in the bedroom, check out the top 11 most shocking stats discovered by a huge new sex survey Play slideshow 1 of 11 When it comes to playing with sex toys in the bedroom, most lovers (68%) actually don’t use them. Whereas, slipping into some sexy lingerie seemed to be more common with 38% trying to shake things up that way

2. FALSE TEETH As if bodily odour was not bad enough, there was also the whiff of rotting teeth. A sugar-rich diet led to frequent tooth-decay in the upper classes. Cleansing tooth-powders had started to emerge but most of these featured "spirit of vitriol", known to us as sulphuric acid, and stripped teeth of their enamel. Often the best remedy for smelling teeth and bad breath was to chew herbs such as parsley. Where a tooth was past hope of redemption, it would be pulled with pliers or a tooth key, a claw that would fix to the teeth so it could be loosened in the jaw. To avoid a gummy smile, ladies of fashion sought false teeth made from ivory or porcelain but, where possible, they preferred to have "live" teeth in their dentures. Poor people were encouraged to sell healthy teeth for this purpose. While such a practice was unethical, it was better than the other method of sourcing human teeth: pillaging them battlefields and graveyards.

PH Beautiful on the outside - but Georgian women used perfumes to mask the stench of unwashed dresses

3. DEADLY MAKE-UP Georgian women were renowned for their snowy faces and dark eyebrows but achieving the fashionable skin tone could be extremely dangerous. White face powders were lead-based and some also featured vinegar and horse manure. Years of coating the entire face, shoulders and neck with such a mixture could lead to catastrophic consequences. Society beauty Maria Gunning died at the age of just 27, having spent her life addicted to cosmetics.

Real sex dolls in pictures Tue, April 4, 2017 A sex doll (also love doll or blow up doll) is a type of sex toy in the size and shape of a sexual partner for aid in masturbation. We take a look at the most life like dolls available in the world. Play slideshow REUTERS 1 of 20 Catalan nanotechnology engineer Santos poses beside Samantha, a sex doll packed with artificial intelligence providing her the capability to respond to different scenarios and verbal stimulus, in his house in Rubi

If your eyebrows fell out due to lead poisoning, you could trap a mouse and use its fur to make an artificial pair. Laura Purcell

Lead-poisoning could cause hair loss and tooth decay but ingeniously, these problems were elegantly adapted into the fashion and it became desirable to have a high forehead and pencil-thin eyebrows. If your own eyebrows failed you completely, you could always trap a mouse in the kitchen and use its fur to make a new artificial pair. 4. BIG HAIR You may have thought 1980s perms were huge but Georgian ladies were the mistresses of big hair. They piled their frizzed and curled locks over pads or wires to create show pieces for the drawing room. Often their own hair was not sufficient and had to be supplemented by horse hair and false pieces. Styles from the 1760s were domed or egg-shaped, elongating into the pouf in the 1780s. But Georgiana, the infamous Duchess of Devonshire, had to take things a step further. She introduced the three-foot hair tower, ornamented with stuffed birds, waxed fruit and model ships. Following her example, women competed with one another to make the tallest headdress. Since these styles were costly and took hours to arrange, they were worn for several weeks. Ladies had to sleep sitting up and travel on the carriage floor to avoid spoiling their creations. With no combing possible, lice were inevitable so a special scratching rod was invented for irritated ladies to poke into their piled up hair.

PH James Graham's Celestial Bed (left) and the Duchess of Devonshire in one of her legendary hats

5. BODILY FLUIDS The great mystery of Georgian women relates to their monthly cycle. No one has proved for certain what they did, if anything, for sanitary hygiene. With no knickers to hold in strips of linen or rag, they were left to Mother Nature’s mercy. However we do know a little more about their toilet habits. When ladies at the royal court were caught short, they resorted to porcelain jugs much like a modern-day gravy boat. This contraption, called a bourdaloue, was stuffed up beneath the skirts and clenched beneath the thighs. Apparently it was quite normal for a lady to continue her conversation while urinating into the device!

PH Francis Boucher's La Toilette Intime shows the rather undignified use of a bourdaloue

6. PRE-NUPS Upon marriage, a lady and all her worldly goods would become property of her husband. It was therefore essential to guard a well-to-do bride’s interests with a legal marriage settlement before the ceremony took place. Henrietta Hobart, later mistress to George II, had reason to be thankful for the settlement drawn up before her marriage to Charles Howard in 1706. It stipulated that two thirds of her dowry should be invested, with the interest at her sole disposal. Should Henrietta die, the funds were to pass to her children. This arrangement was to prove life-saving when her husband became an abusive gambling-addict and alcoholic. Lower class women were known to take extreme measures to protect their future husbands from their own debts. "Smock weddings" were intended to show that the bride brought no clothes or property to the union, thus exempting each spouse from the other’s financial liabilities. The woman would be married wearing only her undergarment or smock – or sometimes nothing at all.

Victorian diseases that are coming back Mon, October 24, 2016 Whooping cough, scarlet fever & scurvy: The returning Victorian diseases. Play slideshow 1 of 9

7. MARITAL ABUSE No marriage settlement, however generous, could save a woman from a violent husband and it remained legal for a man to rape or kidnap his wife. While excessive beating was frowned upon, whipping was considered a reasonable measure to discipline a wife. Even so, it would appear many men pushed their rights beyond the limit, for laws were later amended to say a man could only beat his wife with a stick "no thicker than his thumb". Escaping an abusive marriage was well-nigh impossible. Divorces were so expensive that they remained the privilege of the very rich. Even if a lady did have the money to appeal for divorce, she was by no means certain of success. She would have to prove both adultery and "life-threatening cruelty". And if she won her freedom, it would come with more than just a social cost - any children from the marriage would remain property of the husband.

BBC Blackadder The Third poked fun at the Georgians but life at the royal court was no laughing matter

8. SEX THERAPY The duty of any aristocratic wife was to produce a healthy son and heir but if nature did not take its course, they could seek help. One man who promised to cure infertility was Dr James Graham. His invention, The Celestial Bed, guaranteed conception and unearthly sexual pleasure. The bed itself was electrified and stood on insulating glass legs. The mattress was stuffed with stallion hair to increase potency. Mirrored floors and music from a glass harmonica heightened the experience, while the air swirled with exotic perfumes. Having made love on this bizarre contraption, the couple were encouraged to take ice baths and have a firm massage. The lady would also be advised to douse her genitals with champagne. But infertility was not the only sexual hazard facing the Georgian lady. In an era when prostitution was rife and many aristocratic men had mistresses, the threat of sexually transmitted disease was very real. In the 1740s, Lady Frances Coningsby found herself infected by her play-boy husband’s syphilis. Even less fortunate wives might find the disease had been passed on to their unborn children.

PH Laura Purcell

9. THE DANGERS OF CHILDBIRTH Despite advances in medicine, a shocking number of medieval practices remained in the Georgian birthing chamber. The long period of rest or "confinement" leading up to the birth was still enforced for wealthy women. The rooms would be kept dark and sweltering with the expectant mother wrapped up in fustian waistcoats and petticoats. As soon as she had given birth, the room was made even hotter, with the curtains round the bed pinned and even the keyhole in the door stopped to prevent a draft. Those more fortunate might find themselves in a birthing chair. This had a sloped back and a semi-circle cut from the seat, designed to let gravity aid nature. It was certainly a better option than staining expensive bedding and linen. With only female relatives and an unofficially trained midwife to help, many women and their babies died in childbed, as it was known. Even when male surgeons became involved in obstetrics toward the end of the century, treatments were woefully inadequate. The only child of George VI, Princess Charlotte, was put on a "lowering" diet in 1819 and bled frequently during her pregnancy. Although she had the care of England’s leading doctor, she died of a post-partum haemorrhage.