The Court of King Charles II

Sibelle Stone

When King Charles I was disposed, and then executed in 1649, his son, Charles Stuart II, was forced into exile. He traveled to France and the court of his cousin, Louis XIV to Germany and the Spanish Netherlands. He lived an impoverished life of wandering as the King without a country.

After Oliver Cromwell’s death, the Protectorate, the government controlling England, was weak and dissolving. The restoration of the monarchy was achieved without war in May 1660, as Charles II returned to London to march triumphantly back into the streets as crowds cheered him.

Charles II was a popular king, as he reopened the theatres, hosted an opulent (and many said lurid and hedonistic court), enjoyed good food, fine wine, gambling and beautiful women. He was tall, dark-haired and was said to possess charisma Also, he was the King of England.

Although he married Catherine of Braganza of Portugal in 1662, despite several miscarriages, they never had any children together. Charles II did sire fourteen illegitimate children, but at his death, his brother James was his designated heir.

Among the many loves of Charles II,one of  his longest relationships was with Barbara Villiers, Countess of Castlemaine and later Duchess of Cleveland. The ferocious and demanding Duchess  had a fiery temper, and she was never faithful to her lover. She conceived three children while at court at Whitehall, but there is some question as to the paternity. She was exiled to Paris in 1677.


Perhaps one of the most beloved of King Charles II’s many loves was the actress Nell Gwynne. She grew up in an impoverished state, was an orange girl, (selling oranges at the Duke’s House theatre when they met in 1668). Nell was loyal to her lover, gave birth to two illegitimate sons and created a salon for him in the homes he gave her. She often used her influence in the cause of others, and petitioned him to fund the Royal Hospital for injured soldiers.

On his deathbed in 1685,King Charles II begged his brother and successor, James  “Do not let poor Nelly starve.” James generously paid Nell's debts and gave her an allowance, but it was not for long. Nell at the age of 37 in 1687, just two years after her beloved King.

Like a fairy tale maiden rising from the ashes to the castle, Nell Gwynne became something of a legend, as a good-natured charmer, and an ordinary girl from the slums who ended up not with the Prince, but with the King.

In my recent release, "Whistle Down the Wind" the setting is 1664 England, but not the court of King Charles II, although references are made to it. The heroine’s older sister, Aelwyd, has visited court, and the hero, Sir Griffin Reynolds is a member of the King’s Coldstream Guards. While he’s been at court, he’s on a secret mission to scout out a Puritan plot in the colony of Jamestown to once again dispose the King of England.

Like the court of King Charles, the story is filled with action, adventure and sensuality

Menu-planning in Historical Fiction

L.G.C. Smith

Judy’s post about food in Roman Britain inspired me. We know about what people ate in the past from different sources: archeological remains, texts, art, and even things like pollen analysis and field system patterns. Climate and trade routes are important. I take all those into consideration, and then add that one thing writers can’t resist—imagination.

 Pear tree and drying onions in a Yorkshire garden

When it comes to research, imagination can get a writer into trouble. Other fiction writers can be so evocative it’s easy to let their work seep into the imaginary meals my own characters eat. This is where historical fiction is more demanding than some genres. We have to stick fairly close to the world as we know it was. If I let Tolkien’s visions of The Shire with Sam’s gaffer tending his ‘taters override what I know about food history, namely that potatoes were a New World import to Britain in the 16^th century, I risk serving a time-traveling meal in 600 AD. Since almost all North American school kids have at least three study units on Native American foods by the time they finish high school, readers notice. Historical writers learn to sweat the small stuff. 

 Anglo-Saxon demonstration garden at Bede's World

I almost always include scenes in my books that show people eating together because it’s a way to simultaneously draw readers into the past and to mark some of the distinctions from our own lives. Imagination plays a big part of defining each character’s life, and this holds true for what’s on their tables as much as for what’s in their hearts. In “The Renegade’s Secret Bride,” which will be out later this summer, the hero, Gus, has a wicked sweet tooth. There aren’t a lot of ways to indulge it in Nebraska Territory in 1863, but the heroine, Genny, has a stash of jam. Gus gets his fingers right into it (and a lot of other things). A jar of jam isn’t a big deal for most of us, but it was a rare luxury in Gus’s nomadic life. His response—stealing it and eating the whole thing in one sitting—tells readers a lot about him.

 A nice pig at Bede's World

Sometimes I veer off the strictly documented details of what a character might have in their pantry. In my historical fantasy novella, “Eve of All Hallows,” Gwyn is a secret druid queen who lives in a remote valley in the Welsh mountains. In the seventh century, history tells us her diet would have been drawn from mainly bread and porridge made from wheat, barley, oats and rye. She's have also had lots of dairy products, eggs, fish and meat, along with peas and beans (often dried). 

Good-looking British chickens (not from Chatsworth)

She’d have had carrots, turnips, parsnips, onions, garlic, leeks, cabbage, lettuce, nettles and various wild greens. She would have had nuts, fruits such as sloes, crabapples, pears, medlars, rosehips, and berries. Honey was the only sweetener, but she might have used many herbs and spices: cumin, cinnamon, coriander, dill, rosemary, thyme, mint, parsley, pepper and others, some fresh, some traded over long distances. Food was local and seasonal, but Gwyn has some special items because she travels widely, and is frequently sought out by visitors from other lands. When those special items, such as fine wine and olives, make their way to the islands they often come to Gwyn as payment for the unique work she does. 

reconstructed Anglo-Saxon oven at Bede's World

Here’s a short description from “Eve of All Hallows” of the meal Gwyn offers the young Bernician king, Æthelfrith, when he comes seeking a boon.

She hadn’t known such uncertainty for many years, in truth, not since she had been a girl. These old magics of breeding kings and queens and heroes for future needs were a little wild. Difficult to fully fathom. Otherworldly, they were wrought in times and places beyond the reach of even the most powerful among the Tiluith Teg. If the Fair Folk could not master them, Gwyn knew better than to expect to understand it all. And still, she had to work them, as best she could.

To that end, she finished laying the table with a generous slice out of one of her best wheels of cheese. She had a nice piece of ham and a delicate bit of smoked fish. A plate of sliced sweet onions and fennel covered with parsley and mint and a drizzle of cream. Olives from Spain, walnuts from her uncle’s farm, apples and honey from her own orchards. And rich red wine from Occitan, poured out into fine goblets. It was a feast when all he had a right to expect was pease porridge and maybe a cup of milk.

Apples grown on a trellis against a garden wall in Wales

Three hundred years earlier the olives and wine wouldn’t have been as unusual in Britain, but times had changed. Trade was more erratic. The climate had shifted into a cooler, wetter phase, and not as many crops could be grown as widely as during the Roman period. With grass as the most reliable crop in marginal lands, sheep and cattle were easier to raise than wheat. 

Black sheep on a Yorkshire small holding

Despite so many changes, the specter of Roman times still defined luxury and plenty for many Britons. As I imagine him, Æthelfrith seeks to recreate the order and grandeur of that Roman past, so finding olives and French wine on Gwyn’s table brings his goals forcibly to mind. And that’s exactly what I want when Gwyn is there to challenge them. What looks at first glance to be a simple meal captures a moment in history wedded to an imagined clash between Anglo-Saxon and British cultures.

Whew. That’s some complicated menu-planning. I think we’ll be having popcorn for dinner at my house tonight.

 Leeks in a kitchen garden