Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Mankie.
Speaker 2: Listener discretion advised.
Speaker 1: Let's begin our story In Paris sixteen fifty eight. A
Speaker 1: woman only twenty eight years old is on her deathbed,
Speaker 1: dying of a venereal disease. An English churchman is with
Speaker 1: her in her remaining few hours, allowing her to make
Speaker 1: a general confession or a Christian prayer of repentance for sins.
Speaker 1: An English churchman would know these prayers well, Almighty and
Speaker 1: most Merciful Father, we have aired and strayed from thy
Speaker 1: ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the
Speaker 1: devices and desires of our own hearts. That's read by
Speaker 1: an Anglican congregation and mass during worship. But what did
Speaker 1: this woman specifically have to confess? Maybe her cause of
Speaker 1: death can provide you with a clue. But the extent
Speaker 1: of the words that she would utter to the priest
Speaker 1: went far beyond simply the sins of lust. She told
Speaker 1: the churchmen that there existed a black box, and inside
Speaker 1: of it one could find documentary proof that years earlier
Speaker 1: she had married Charles, the second King of England. The
Speaker 1: story I just told you of the deathbed confession of
Speaker 1: the mysterious Black Box. Proof is likely highly dramatized, but
Speaker 1: Lucy Walter, the woman in question, was the very real
Speaker 1: mistress of the King of England, and the story of
Speaker 1: her alleged confession would have a very real impact on
Speaker 1: the country at large. Lucy's confession isn't actually the beginning
Speaker 1: of our story, but it's also not the end. A
Speaker 1: confession of a secret marriage would be enough to cause
Speaker 1: a scandal, but the confession of a marriage while an
Speaker 1: acknowledged illegitimate son lived was enough to send the monarchy
Speaker 1: into turmoil. The churchman from the tale was also very real,
Speaker 1: but John Couson, future Bishop of Durham, would pass in
Speaker 1: sixteen seventy two. Dying with him would be the only
Speaker 1: chance of finding this infamous black box and proving once
Speaker 1: and for all that Lucy's son, James Scott, the Duke
Speaker 1: of Monmouth, was not an illegitimate son, but in fact
Speaker 1: the King's legitimate, rightful heir to the throne. Notably, the
Speaker 1: story of Lucy's death comes from the memoirs of James
Speaker 1: the second, younger brother to Lucy's lover, King Charles the
Speaker 1: Second and it's a memoir in which she by and
Speaker 1: large is portrayed in a rather shameful light. It will
Speaker 1: become clearer as to why that might have been the
Speaker 1: case later, but it's a good reminder that when it
Speaker 1: comes to Lucy's life we could be careful to take
Speaker 1: things with a grain of salt. In a real history
Speaker 1: is written by the victor's moment, we have to ask,
Speaker 1: did Lucy even truly die of a quote disease incident
Speaker 1: to her profession, as James the Second put it, or
Speaker 1: as James was fighting the Duke of Monmouth foreclaim to
Speaker 1: the throne, did he really just want his enemy to
Speaker 1: be known as the son of a whore? The story
Speaker 1: of Lucy Walter and Charles the Second has all the
Speaker 1: makings of a really good scandal. Royalty seduction, bastards, secret marriages,
Speaker 1: a quest for a fabled box, and, since this is
Speaker 1: the English monarchy, an eventual beheading. As with any scandal,
Speaker 1: though no matter how important the participants are, at the
Speaker 1: heart of it is a real messy group of people
Speaker 1: making real messy decisions. I'm Danish Schwartz and this is
Speaker 1: Noble Blood. Now to introduce the players in this scandal
Speaker 1: when there's a king involved, I imagine that ladies first
Speaker 1: doesn't really apply. So let's start with King Charles the
Speaker 1: Second of England. Charles the Second's father, Charles the First
Speaker 1: was an infamously stuffy and unlikable man, so unlikable, in fact,
Speaker 1: that it cost him his head to very very succinctly
Speaker 1: sum up the English Civil War, but his wife, the
Speaker 1: French Princess Henrietta Maria, was practically his opposite. Charles the
Speaker 1: First was twenty four and she was fifteen at the
Speaker 1: time of their vows. He wanted a submissive, traditional queen,
Speaker 1: while Henrietta had no such intentions of being one. She
Speaker 1: had been raised in the comparatively liberal environment of the
Speaker 1: French court. Charles the First was the head of the
Speaker 1: Church of England, and Henrietta Maria was a Roman Catholic
Speaker 1: at a time when religious strife was particularly contentious. The
Speaker 1: couple's biggest similarity at the time of their marriage seemed
Speaker 1: to be that both were fairly onely disliked. Parliament and
Speaker 1: the English public were very wary when the king announced
Speaker 1: that he would be marrying a Roman Catholic woman, and
Speaker 1: due to religious restrictions, she was never even formally crowned
Speaker 1: in a coronation ceremony. In a situation like this of
Speaker 1: two very different parents, odds are that children would take
Speaker 1: more after one parent than the other, and in the
Speaker 1: young Charles's case, he took after his mother. The Bishop
Speaker 1: Burnet once reflected that quote. The Queen Mother, referring to
Speaker 1: Henrietta Maria, observed often that the great defects of the
Speaker 1: late king's breeding and the stiff roughness that was in him,
Speaker 1: by which he disobliged very many and did often prejudice
Speaker 1: his affairs very much. So she gave strict orders that
Speaker 1: the young princes should be bred to wonderful civility end quote.
Speaker 1: Civility may seem a misplaced choice of wording here, but
Speaker 1: in this case it's a reference back to its archaic meaning,
Speaker 1: which was to be learned in the humanities. And so
Speaker 1: the future Charles the second would take after his mother
Speaker 1: very much. By design as his mother's favorite, the young
Speaker 1: Charles spent a lot of time being doted on by
Speaker 1: Henrietta and her courtiers. The excess of Catholicism opposed by
Speaker 1: English Puritans around this time was spiritually embodied by Henrietta
Speaker 1: who turned the palace into a personal menagerie. She kept
Speaker 1: herself surrounded by dwarfs, a sadly common practice among royalty
Speaker 1: at the time, dogs of all shapes and sizes, gestures.
Speaker 2: And monkeys.
Speaker 1: The idea was constant entertainment and spectacle. After all, Henrietta's
Speaker 1: mother was Ria de Medici, and if you know anything
Speaker 1: about that family, you know that extravagance was a prominent
Speaker 1: genotype in their Punnett Square. When young Charles was around,
Speaker 1: the courtiers devised games and jokes for the enjoyment of
Speaker 1: the prince, and in Henrietta's court he received a cultural
Speaker 1: education simply through exposure. But he was also exposed to
Speaker 1: the other side of a hedonistic leaning circle of wealthy followers.
Speaker 2: As phrased by.
Speaker 1: Derek Wilson in his book All the King's Women, quote, flirtations, affairs,
Speaker 1: and gossip about those flirtations and affairs.
Speaker 2: Were part of the daily routine.
Speaker 1: And if adulterous liaisons were not officially approved of, everyone
Speaker 1: knew they happened.
Speaker 3: End quote.
Speaker 1: It likely took the little prince some time to understand
Speaker 1: the full implications of what was going on behind the scenes,
Speaker 1: but adultery and that sort of debauchery was a part
Speaker 1: of his daily life from a young age. The Queen
Speaker 1: and her ladies also took great joy in dressing the
Speaker 1: young Charles and his royal siblings in fanciful costumes and
Speaker 1: staging masks and dances for the young princes to perform in.
Speaker 1: Henrietta was a devoted patroness of the arts, particularly when
Speaker 1: it came to masks and plays, even ones that didn't
Speaker 1: involve her children. Her husband, Charles the First, for his part,
Speaker 1: was a major patron of paintings and visual arts, but
Speaker 1: their approaches were different. They both wanted the court to
Speaker 1: embrace the Beaumont, but Henrietta was determined to do so
Speaker 1: through grand French sensibilities, while her husband was the poster
Speaker 1: child for English rigid formality and dignity. To get an
Speaker 1: idea of the kind of plays Henrietta was hosting, take
Speaker 1: this criticism from lawyer William Prine, a staunch Puritan, in
Speaker 1: a paragraph that sounds like it should follow the phrase
Speaker 1: this club has everything, Prine admonishes the Court for quote
Speaker 1: effeminate mixed dancing, stage plays, lascivious pictures, face painting, health, drinking,
Speaker 1: long hair, love, locks, periwigs, women's curling, powdering and cuffing
Speaker 1: of their hair, bonfires, new Year's gifts, may day's amorous pastimes, lascivious,
Speaker 1: effeminate music, excessive laughter, luxurious, disorderly Christmas keeping mummeries with
Speaker 1: sundry such like vanities end quote. Charles the First was
Speaker 1: so offended by Prin's accusations that he was not the
Speaker 1: moral paragon, that he fancied himself that he had Prin
Speaker 1: sentenced to life imprisonment, find five thousand pounds, deprived of
Speaker 1: his Oxford degree, and for good measure, liberated of both
Speaker 1: his ears. And that was just the initial sentence. But anyway,
Speaker 1: back to the sun, there was a third person responsible
Speaker 1: for rearing and influencing the young Prince. Charles's nurse, Christabella Wyndham.
Speaker 1: She was in her mid twenties when she was appointed,
Speaker 1: and apparently she was quite beautiful, but one of Charles
Speaker 1: the second future courtiers once remarked that there was quote
Speaker 1: nothing of woman in her but her body end quote.
Speaker 1: Due to her apparent ambitiousness nature, she and her husband,
Speaker 1: Sir Edward Wyndham were quickly climbing the social ranks in court,
Speaker 1: and they were trusted by the King, Queen, and most
Speaker 1: of all, the young Prince, she readily provided the prince
Speaker 1: with affection, hugs and kisses that a young royal really
Speaker 1: couldn't get anywhere else. In sixteen forty two, when twelve
Speaker 1: year old Charles was forced to leave his home for
Speaker 1: the first time to join his father fighting in the
Speaker 1: First English Civil War, he was separated from his incredibly
Speaker 1: comfortable home life, which included his mother's court and his
Speaker 1: beloved nurse. Charles's relatively loose education and preferences for an
Speaker 1: easy life hadn't prepared him for the battlefield, but nevertheless,
Speaker 1: in classic Nepo baby tradition, at age fifteen, he was
Speaker 1: given his own command. While teenage Charles wasn't a particularly
Speaker 1: effective general, being in the field did give him a
Speaker 1: chance to reunite with Christabella, his childhood nurse, for a week.
Speaker 1: He was stationed in her hometown of Bridgewater, where she
Speaker 1: herself had become quite the warrior for the Royalist cause.
Speaker 1: She apparently fired a musket at the Parliamentary General and
Speaker 1: then sent her trumpeter to the enemy commander to taunt
Speaker 1: that if he were a real courtier, he would return
Speaker 1: the compliment with another shot at her. Charles was thrilled
Speaker 1: to be reunited with his childhood nurse, but his courtier,
Speaker 1: Edward Hyde, was far less thrilled. It was he who
Speaker 1: had earlier described her as lacking womanhood, believing that she, Cristabella,
Speaker 1: sought to influence and manipulate the young Charles for her
Speaker 1: and her husband's own gain, which you know, probably to
Speaker 1: some degree was true. Hyde now admonished the way that
Speaker 1: she would run across the room to kiss young Charles,
Speaker 1: who happily accepted her affection. Hyde feared that his master
Speaker 1: harbored quote fondness, if not affection end quote for his
Speaker 1: former nurse, which you know you think, sure he probably did.
Speaker 1: But some historians have interpreted this to mean that the
Speaker 1: relationship between them had evolved into something sexual, but there's
Speaker 1: no evidence to corroborate that idea, so the theory is
Speaker 1: more likely just a convenient plot point in young Charles's story.
Speaker 1: Despite that, Christabella was undoubtedly Charles's first crush, and her
Speaker 1: headstrongness would certainly inspire his future taste. Speaking of headstrong women,
Speaker 1: let's finally talk about Lucy Walter. There is a definite
Speaker 1: lack of information on Lucy's early life compared to Charles,
Speaker 1: but after all, she was the daughter of Welsh gentry
Speaker 1: and he was the future King of England. Lucy was
Speaker 1: born in Pembrokeshire, Wales, the same year as Charles, but
Speaker 1: in the later sixteen thirties her parents moved the family
Speaker 1: to London. Attracted to high society, Lucy's parents established their
Speaker 1: new home in Covent Garden, the most expensive quarter of
Speaker 1: the capitol. Their attempt to make a name for themselves
Speaker 1: in the city didn't work out as they had hoped,
Speaker 1: and by the time Lucy was ten, there was so
Speaker 1: much strain on their marriage that the couple divorced. It
Speaker 1: was not an easy or simple separation, and it ended
Speaker 1: up playing out messily in courts, with claims of infidelity
Speaker 1: and unpaid dowries.
Speaker 2: For Lucy.
Speaker 1: This meant she and her siblings would be placed in
Speaker 1: the care of her grandfather and brought up at his
Speaker 1: house near Exeter. We know that she received no formal education,
Speaker 1: but she learned etiquette and.
Speaker 2: That's about it. For her childhood.
Speaker 1: She likely spent time, as many children of divorce do,
Speaker 1: bouncing between her grandparents and her parents' respective homes but
Speaker 1: by her mid teens we know that she ended up
Speaker 1: back in London. We also know that she was charming, spirited,
Speaker 1: and a rare beauty, three qualities that she would come
Speaker 1: to rely on. The English writer John Evelyn once famously
Speaker 1: described her as quote a brown, beautiful, bold, but insipid
Speaker 1: creature end quote. After the two shared a carriage later
Speaker 1: in her life, and it's believed that she at least
Speaker 1: understood her appeal. Lucy was at the age when many
Speaker 1: families would begin thinking.
Speaker 2: Of marriage for their daughters.
Speaker 1: But Lucy's family was not only fractured, but by this
Speaker 1: point out of money. Not only that, but England was
Speaker 1: at this point at war with itself, and most of
Speaker 1: her potential husband candidates were on the battlefield. It's likely
Speaker 1: that during this time, without a husband or father to
Speaker 1: protect her in London, she sought a quote protector. This
Speaker 1: protector arrangement, which was almost always in exchange for sexual services,
Speaker 1: was quite common in seventeenth century London, as it has
Speaker 1: been informs throughout history. The man who would take on
Speaker 1: this protector role for Lucy was Algernon Sidney, Younger, son
Speaker 1: of the Earl of Leicester and bearer of a family
Speaker 1: name that pops up quite a lot on this show.
Speaker 1: He had been injured in battle and was waiting to
Speaker 1: be reinstated when he assumed his parliamentary seat as MP
Speaker 1: of Cardiff. That was the summer of sixteen forty six,
Speaker 1: and at the same time he entered into an agreement
Speaker 1: with Lucy. It said she must have made a considerable impression,
Speaker 1: as he paid fifty pounds for her services. He later
Speaker 1: complained that he never received them because he was called
Speaker 1: back into battle and missed his chance. Shortly after Sidney's departure,
Speaker 1: the conclusion of Lucy's parents's long divorce proceeding was fined,
Speaker 1: finally reached, and Lucy's father was given custody of Lucy
Speaker 1: and her siblings, likely because her mother couldn't afford to
Speaker 1: care for them. It's fairly clear that Lucy didn't care
Speaker 1: for her father because rather than move in with him,
Speaker 1: she chose to flee the country, changing her last name
Speaker 1: to Barlow borrowed from a maternal relative, she boarded a
Speaker 1: ship to Holland to stay at her uncle's family home.
Speaker 1: She wouldn't take much with her except a collection of
Speaker 1: letters of recommendation from Algernon Sidney addressed to his younger brother,
Speaker 1: Robert Sidney, who had recently become colonel of the English
Speaker 1: regiment in the Netherlands. The letters apparently worked, as Lucy
Speaker 1: became Robert's mistress by spring sixteen forty seven. Though Robert
Speaker 1: Sidney was married, he was powerful enough that it didn't
Speaker 1: matter if he paraded his a newfound relationship around, and
Speaker 1: Lucy likely gained inadvertent access to the heart of culture
Speaker 1: happening in the Hague.
Speaker 2: On Robert's arm.
Speaker 1: Robert Sidney was, however, not the most important affair that
Speaker 1: Lucy would.
Speaker 3: Have in Holland.
Speaker 1: Like Lucy, young Charles also arrived at the Hague seeking refuge.
Speaker 1: The First English Civil War ended in sixteen forty six,
Speaker 1: with Charles the first surrendering and the prince going into exile,
Speaker 1: spending much of it in France with his mother. His
Speaker 1: younger brother James, however, was imprisoned in the Palace alongside
Speaker 1: their other siblings. By sixteen forty eight, conflict was already renewed,
Speaker 1: marking the beginning of the Second English Civil War. James
Speaker 1: managed to escape the palace disguised as a girl and
Speaker 1: safely arrived in the Hague. To live with his sister
Speaker 1: Mary and her husband, William, the second Prince of Orange.
Speaker 1: This feels like one of those spoiler alerts that later
Speaker 1: in history, probably later in a Noble Blood episode, that
Speaker 1: couple comes back. Young Charles, the prince in exile, had
Speaker 1: exhausted his options for aid in France, and so he too,
Speaker 1: traveled to meet his brother and pitch the Royalist cause
Speaker 1: to Mary and William. Lucy and Charles met almost immediately
Speaker 1: upon his arrival in Holland in May sixteen forty eight.
Speaker 1: We don't have details about their first meeting, or about
Speaker 1: how their affair began, or as to how Lucy broke
Speaker 1: off her arrangement with Sidney, but we know that Charles
Speaker 1: was infatuated from the moment they met. Madame d'lnoy, the
Speaker 1: baroness and French author who actually coined the term fairy
Speaker 1: tale for her collection of stories, once wrote that upon
Speaker 1: seeing Lucy's beauty for their first meeting, the prince was
Speaker 1: quote so charmed and ravished and enamored that, in the
Speaker 1: misfortunes which ran through the first years of his reign,
Speaker 1: he knew no other sweetness or joy than to love
Speaker 1: her and be loved by her end quote. The couple
Speaker 1: were both eighteen, and Lucy was almost certainly Charles's first,
Speaker 1: possibly only love, despite his already gained reputation as something
Speaker 1: of a cad. Lucy was the first woman Charles began
Speaker 1: a relationship with, which explains the buzzy, impassioned language many
Speaker 1: historians youth to describe their affair. On Lucy's part, we
Speaker 1: don't have any real insight into how reciprocal her feelings
Speaker 1: truly were, at least on first glance. It's equally likely
Speaker 1: that Charles was the great love of her life as
Speaker 1: it is that she was just seeking out more powerful
Speaker 1: quote protection, and positive and negative interpretations of her motives
Speaker 1: have ebbed and flowed with history and shifts in historical
Speaker 1: schools of thought. What we know for sure, though, is
Speaker 1: that by July Lucy was pregnant, the same month in
Speaker 1: which the Prince Charles would return to his position of
Speaker 1: command and depart with his fleet back to the seas.
Speaker 1: In December, tensions escalated back in England, but the Prince,
Speaker 1: still in exile, returned to the Hague for the holidays.
Speaker 1: At this point in English history, Christmas had been all
Speaker 1: but banned by the Puritan Parliament, associating its festivities too
Speaker 1: closely with indulgent Catholicism and arguing that Christmas encouraged drunkenness
Speaker 1: and debauchery. In Holland, however, the festive season was in
Speaker 1: full swing, and it can be assumed that pregnant Lucy
Speaker 1: joined Charles at court for celebration. Their happy period quickly
Speaker 1: came to an end, though by the time their son
Speaker 1: James was born in Rotterdam on April ninth, Charles had
Speaker 1: been gone from the Netherlands two months earlier. He had
Speaker 1: learned of his father's execution, and he immediately set off
Speaker 1: for Jersey, the only one of his father's dominions in
Speaker 1: which he was now declared king. His agree that the
Speaker 1: death of his father marked a near immediate shift in Charles.
Speaker 1: The prince, who had once been described as soft hearted,
Speaker 1: had hardened, and will see the consequences of this shift
Speaker 1: as our story goes on. Baby James was left in
Speaker 1: the care of a wet nurse in Rotterdam, while Lucy
Speaker 1: returned to Charles's side months later in either Jersey or
Speaker 1: his next destination, Paris, where Charles would reunite with his mother,
Speaker 1: Henrietta Marie in court. It seems the Queen mother was
Speaker 1: not too fond of the mother of her beloved son's child.
Speaker 1: From Hyde, the man who once admonished the way Christavella
Speaker 1: showed affection to Charles, we get an account of the
Speaker 1: young lady Lucy, who had quote procured a lodging there
Speaker 1: without her majesty consent, and with whom her Majesty was
Speaker 1: justly offended for the little respect she showed toward her
Speaker 1: majesty end quote. Hyde prevailed upon Charles to have this
Speaker 1: woman removed from court, and the King ultimately complied. We
Speaker 1: don't know actually for sure that this woman was Lucy,
Speaker 1: but the timeline matches up, and more specifically regarding Lucy,
Speaker 1: Hyde later comment that Lucy resided for quote some years
Speaker 1: in France in the King's sight, and at last lost
Speaker 1: his Majesty's favor end quote. And so it's believed that
Speaker 1: the couple traveled together for periods through the sixteen fifties
Speaker 1: as Charles made his way to Belgium and the Netherlands
Speaker 1: for negotiations with the Scottish. But the affair between Charles
Speaker 1: and Lucy was ultimately destined to end in the place
Speaker 1: where it began. The details we have of the couple's
Speaker 1: post relationship interactions and of Lucy's later life at large
Speaker 1: are very limited. There's a letter from May sixteen fifty
Speaker 1: five from Charles to Viscount Taife, an Irish Royalist officer
Speaker 1: who accompanied Charles into exile, that reads quote, as soon
Speaker 1: as I have any money, I will not fail to
Speaker 1: send some to missus Barlow. But in the meantime advise her,
Speaker 1: both for her sake and mine, that she goes to
Speaker 1: some place more private than the Hague for her stay
Speaker 1: there is very prejudicial to us both end quote. It's
Speaker 1: widely believed that Taife is actually the father of Lucy's
Speaker 1: second child, a daughter named Mary, likely born in sixteen
Speaker 1: fifty one.
Speaker 3: When it came.
Speaker 1: To Charles's request, Lucy evidently ignored his warnings she was
Speaker 1: still in the Hague six months later. This prompted Charles
Speaker 1: to issue an allowance to her of five thousand livres
Speaker 1: per month, which he promised to raise once he was
Speaker 1: formally king. Realizing that he could actually control where she
Speaker 1: chose to live, the allowance was directed to be given
Speaker 1: at Antwerp quote, or some other place as she shall desire.
Speaker 1: Charles wanted Lucy out of the Hague to avoid scandal
Speaker 1: in the Court of Orange, but scandal Lucy did find.
Speaker 1: An account from court reads that Lucy quote was living
Speaker 1: a life so disorderly that the princess's own servant proposed
Speaker 1: to banish.
Speaker 2: Her from the place end quote.
Speaker 1: In this case, a disorderly life consisted of having an
Speaker 1: affair with a married man, allegedly at tempting to murder
Speaker 1: a maid who threatened to reveal the affair, and being
Speaker 1: accused by the same maid of having two abortions. Now,
Speaker 1: the legitimacy of any of these claims has not been verified,
Speaker 1: but for Charles's ye old pr team at the time,
Speaker 1: any press was not a good press. Thus Lucy was
Speaker 1: apparently persuaded to return to England, where she was imprisoned,
Speaker 1: along with the married man with whom she had had
Speaker 1: an affair, her maid, and her brother. Historians have widely
Speaker 1: theorized about why she was arrested and why she returned
Speaker 1: to England in the first place. The most exciting theory
Speaker 1: is that she was working for the king as a
Speaker 1: Royalist spy. In reality, Lucy claimed that she had returned
Speaker 1: to claim the inheritance of fifteen hundred pounds left for
Speaker 1: her by her mother, who had recently died. The timing
Speaker 1: makes this plausible, but her testimony is riddled with lies,
Speaker 1: including the fact that she was the widow of a
Speaker 1: Dutchman who was the father of both of her children.
Speaker 1: She had been the king's mistress, she explained, but they
Speaker 1: had not seen each other for two years and their
Speaker 1: child had died. The parliamentary regime would not have treated
Speaker 1: her favorably as an active mistress of the king, so
Speaker 1: to frame herself instead as a sympathetic widow was likely
Speaker 1: a strategic move. Her maid, however, snitched on every detail
Speaker 1: of the affair, which the parliamentary regime at the time.
Speaker 2: Was more ready to believe.
Speaker 1: Lucy's arrest covered in the pro Republican newspaper Mercius Politicus,
Speaker 1: referred to Lucy as Charles's wife or mistress, and reported
Speaker 1: that order is taken forthwith to dispatch the King's quote,
Speaker 1: lady of pleasure and the young heir and set them
Speaker 1: on shore in Flanders, which is no ordinary courtesy end quote.
Speaker 1: Learning about Charles having a lady of pleasure was a
Speaker 1: great boon for Puritans who supported the parliamentary cause, because
Speaker 1: that knowledge reinforced the perception that royals were impure and superficial.
Speaker 1: It's not clear when exactly James had returned to Lucy's care,
Speaker 1: but we know that they were together in Brussels in
Speaker 1: sixteen fifty eight, when an attempt was made by Charles's
Speaker 1: regime to physically remove his son from his mother's presence.
Speaker 1: Colonel Arthur Slingsby attempted to detain Lucy in a city
Speaker 1: prison while he abducted her son, but this apparently failed
Speaker 1: spectacularly and publicly. Lucy resisted loudly as he attempted to
Speaker 1: drag her away, which drew a crowd of spectators who
Speaker 1: were allegedly scandalized at the violence of the colonel, and
Speaker 1: they were moved by the actions of a mother trying
Speaker 1: to protect her son. This turned into a diplomatic incident.
Speaker 1: The Spanish ambassador, governor of the Spanish Netherlands, and the
Speaker 1: local town council all got involved to protect Lucy, believing
Speaker 1: that the colonel was not acting on Charles's authority. The
Speaker 1: colonel actually was, but he had been ordered to carry
Speaker 1: out his task quietly, which gave room for the king
Speaker 1: to now pin the blame on him. Still, Charles wanted
Speaker 1: his son in custody, which prompted one of Charles's chief
Speaker 1: advisers to explain to the Spanish ambassador that it was
Speaker 1: in the father and the mother's best interests to have
Speaker 1: baby James collected. Quote, it will be a great charity
Speaker 1: to the child, the adviser wrote, as in the conclusion
Speaker 1: to the mother, if she shall now at length retire
Speaker 1: herself into such a way of living as may redeem
Speaker 1: in some measure the reproach her past ways have brought
Speaker 1: upon her. Basically, if she didn't have the burden of
Speaker 1: an illegitimate baby hanging over her head, she could start
Speaker 1: living as an honest woman. If Lucy was to continue
Speaker 1: to live in, as the ambassador put it, mad disobedience
Speaker 1: to his pleasure, the King would be forced to disown
Speaker 1: both Lucy and their son. Lucy, learning of the King's
Speaker 1: plans to have baby James placed in the care of
Speaker 1: a chosen guardian, countered with her own plan that she
Speaker 1: would be allowed to live in the home of the
Speaker 1: chosen guardian, and she would have a say in the
Speaker 1: choice of said guardian. If King Charles didn't agree to
Speaker 1: these terms, she threatened she would publish a collection of
Speaker 1: his letters that she had in her possession. For a
Speaker 1: short period of time, it seemed that Charles would comply
Speaker 1: with these terms, but by the spring of sixteen fifty eight,
Speaker 1: a second mission to remove James from Lucy's care was
Speaker 1: successfully completed, and the now nine year old bastard prince
Speaker 1: was placed in Paris. Charles's agent warned that James was
Speaker 1: not yet safe quote from his mother's intrigues, but they
Speaker 1: justified the abduction by noting that he observed that Lucy
Speaker 1: had not been properly educating her son. The letters that
Speaker 1: Lucy had blackmailed the king with were also dealt with
Speaker 1: the same Spanish authorities who had once protected Lucy now
Speaker 1: complied with Charles's orders to search and seize any papers
Speaker 1: that they found. The tragic and ironic aftermath of James's
Speaker 1: forced removal from his mother's care is that she would
Speaker 1: die that same year. The next account that we have
Speaker 1: of Lucy catches us up to where our story began,
Speaker 1: with her deathbed confession to John Coussen. The assertion that
Speaker 1: she had actually married Charles legally, and that proof was out.
Speaker 1: There would be a quiet whisper for years before it
Speaker 1: escalated into a roar. England restored the monarchy and invited
Speaker 1: Charles the Second to claim his throne in sixteen sixty two,
Speaker 1: years after Lucy died. When their son James was nearly fourteen,
Speaker 1: he was brought to England to live in the restored
Speaker 1: Stuart Court, where Charles took an instant liking to him.
Speaker 1: James was legitimized as the Duke of Monmouth. He became
Speaker 1: popular among the people for his Protestantism, especially since Charles's
Speaker 1: younger brother James had openly converted to Catholicism. The exclusion
Speaker 1: crisis and the Popish plot would need dedicated episodes to
Speaker 1: be completely explained, and I think they probably eventually will
Speaker 1: get them. But know that in sixteen seventy nine, Charles
Speaker 1: the Second would have to make no fewer than three
Speaker 1: public claims that he had only been married once, and
Speaker 1: it was in sixteen sixty two, and it was to
Speaker 1: his Queen Catherine. This was because his wife had given
Speaker 1: him no legitimate heirs, and there was a grit g
Speaker 1: owing faction in England who wanted to name Protestant James
Speaker 1: the illegitimate son with Lucy as the successor to the
Speaker 1: throne instead of Catholic.
Speaker 3: James, who was King.
Speaker 1: Charles the second brother and this faction were encouraged by
Speaker 1: the rumor that James of Monmouth, Protestant illegitimate son was
Speaker 1: secretly a legitimate heir. Charles's denial did not have the
Speaker 1: effectiveness that he had hoped for, because after his passing,
Speaker 1: Lucy's mythologized confession that the two had been legally married
Speaker 1: would fan the flames of the Monmouth Rebellion, an epic
Speaker 1: battle of James versus James that would ultimately cost Lucy's
Speaker 1: son his head. Neither the contents of the mysterious black
Speaker 1: box she confessed, nor the box itself wherever found, but they,
Speaker 1: and by extension, Lucy, had a profound impact on a
Speaker 1: pivotal moment in English history. Charles the Second would go
Speaker 1: on to have eleven more illegitimate children from mistresses, but
Speaker 1: historians conclude that his affair with Lucy in the days
Speaker 1: before he had the weight of the crown on his shoulders,
Speaker 1: was the only true love he knew. That's the story
Speaker 1: of Lucy Walter and her illegitimate possibly legitimate son James.
Speaker 1: But keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear
Speaker 1: a little bit more about that mysterious box. The truth
Speaker 1: of the Black Box still evades us, but recently discovered
Speaker 1: documentation may shed some new light unto the truth.
Speaker 2: Of its existence.
Speaker 1: Historians have found a deposition dated April nineteenth, sixteen forty
Speaker 1: nine by a sixteen year old named Edward Fenn, who
Speaker 1: spoke on behalf of the honorable Miss Lucy Barlow, also
Speaker 1: now staying here in the Hague. Fenn testified that he
Speaker 1: had accompanied his master, a naval Captain Robert Killigrew, on
Speaker 1: a trip with Lucy from the Hague to Rotterdam. The
Speaker 1: contents of the testimony detail that Lucy had with her
Speaker 1: in her possession a small cabinet or box, which, by
Speaker 1: Killigrew's orders, Fenn was in charge of keeping safe in
Speaker 1: the inns where they stayed. Fen was consistently urged by
Speaker 1: his captain to get his hands on the contents of
Speaker 1: the box, with him, going so as to purchase lead
Speaker 1: to replace the box's minted silver, even ordering Fenn to
Speaker 1: drop the box in the water and remember the spot
Speaker 1: where he did so. Fenn reasonably confident that he would
Speaker 1: in fact not be able to retrieve the box after
Speaker 1: dropping it in the water. Refused, Killigrew then took matters
Speaker 1: into his own hands, and Fenn spied him with the
Speaker 1: box under his cloak, taking out quote the papers and
Speaker 1: counting the coins of minted gold. Fenn's deposition concludes with
Speaker 1: him explaining that he didn't know if the captain ever
Speaker 1: put the money back, but that the box was now
Speaker 1: once again in the hands of its rightful owner, Lucy Barlow.
Speaker 1: Based on the captain's earlier orders to Fenn, we can
Speaker 1: assume that Killigrew was really only after the money that
Speaker 1: Lucy had stored in box. But what about the papers.
Speaker 1: It's unclear as to why this testimony was being recorded
Speaker 1: in the first place, and all we know is that
Speaker 1: it was requested by Lucy only a few days after
Speaker 1: her son's birth. Was she seeking to document proof that
Speaker 1: Kilgrew had tried to steal from her despite no further
Speaker 1: record of legal action it's plausible, or was she instead
Speaker 1: documenting proof that this cabinet was in her possession? In
Speaker 1: a search for answers, we are unfortunately left with only
Speaker 1: more questions. But maybe the fabled box really was nothing
Speaker 1: more than a fairy Tale. Noble Blood is a production
Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankie. Noble
Speaker 1: Blood is created and hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with
Speaker 1: additional writing and researching by Hannah Johnston, Hanna Zwick, Mira Hayward,
Speaker 1: Courtney Sender, and Lori Goodman. The show is edited and
Speaker 1: produced by Noemi Griffin and rima il Kaali, with supervising
Speaker 1: producer Josh Fain and executive producers Aaron Manke, Alex Williams,
Speaker 1: and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite show.