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Mrs. Margaret Hughes
Affaire with Charles II, King of England, Scotland and Ireland
1660-1685
Born 29 May 1630 St.James's, London
Died 6 February 1685 Palace of Whitehall
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As Peg Hughes she was a celebrated actress and as such caught the eye
of King Charles II, if only fleetingly. Her attachment to the King's cousin,
Prince Rupert, Duke of Cumberland, was more lasting.
She gave birth to his daughter, appropriately named Ruperta. It was
said of her that she 'soothed Prince Rupert's old age'. Even though she
was regarded as Prince Rupert's morganatic wife, at one stage his elder
brother, Karl Ludwig, Elector Palatine, used
their sister Sophie as an intermediary to sound out Rupert as to whether
he was willing to marry appropriately and return to the Palatinate.
Sophie, Electress of Hanover, sent him a boatload of Hanoverian deer
for Windsor Great Park, which Rupert gratefully and graciously accepted.
However, he also remembered his oath that he had finished with the Palatinate
after his brother stingingly had denied him his
heritage. He had no intention of leaving Mrs. Margaret Hughes or their
daughter.
Margaret remained on friendly terms with Rupert's sister and sent her
shoes from London. However, Sophie's thank-you note maintained that
they were 'the prettiest in the world, only too small'. From Prince Rupert
she received a magnificent pearl-necklace which, after
his death, she sold to Nell Gwynn for over four thousand guineas.
Source: Leo van de Pas |
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