Historical Figure
Nell Gwyn
d. 1687
English royal mistress and actress (1650–1687)
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Biography
Eleanor Gwyn was an English stage actress and celebrity figure of the Restoration period. Praised by Samuel Pepys for her comic performances as one of the first actresses on the English stage, she became best known for being a longtime mistress of King Charles II of England.
Timeline
The story of Nell Gwyn, told in moments.
Took the stage at 14 or 15. Samuel Pepys called her "pretty, witty Nell." She played comic roles opposite Charles Hart, who also became her lover.
Caught the eye of King Charles II. By 1670 she was his mistress. She bore him two sons: Charles Beauclerk in 1670 and James Beauclerk in 1671.
Never received a title. Legend says she dangled one son out a window and threatened to drop him unless the King gave the boy a surname. Charles relented with "Beauclerk."
Died at 37, likely of a stroke. Charles II had begged on his deathbed two years earlier: "Let not poor Nelly starve."
Artifacts (13)
How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?
as early as September 2008, when her father took her to Peshawar to speak at the local press club. "How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?" she asked in a speech covered by...
We went to the supermarket to buy a gift for our mother but it was closed, where...
ed to their hometown of Mingora, where the streets were deserted, and there was an "eerie silence". She wrote in her blog: "We went to the supermarket to buy a gift for our mother but it was closed,...
Our annual exams are due after the vacations but this will only be possible if t...
ollowing the edict, the Pakistani Taliban destroyed several more local schools. On 24 January 2009, Yousafzai wrote: "Our annual exams are due after the vacations but this will only be possible if the...
[t]he Pakistani government is paying all transport, migration, medical, accommod...
treatment of military personnel injured in conflict. According to media reports at the time, the UK Government stated that "[t]he Pakistani government is paying all transport, migration, medical,...
Malala dared to stand up for herself and other girls and used national and inter...
Rights Foundation. She was the first Pakistani girl to be nominated for the award. The announcement said, "Malala dared to stand up for herself and other girls and used national and international...
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