1650–1687

Actress

An Unfortunate Upbringing.

When she was just a child, Eleanor Gwyn lost her father, who likely died in a debtor's prison. The future great actress of the Restoration stage therefore grew up under the care of her mother, who ran a house of prostitution near Covent Garden, then in the western end of the city of London. In her childhood years she was a barmaid in her mother's establishment before becoming a fruit seller at the nearby Drury Lane Theater. She came to the attention of the theater's major actor, Charles Hart, and although only fifteen at the time she became his lover. Hart saw to it that she was given roles in productions and she continued in the company until 1669 when she became pregnant by the king. She returned to the theater for one production after the birth, but then soon retired to devote...