In 1660, in the ribald court of King Charles II, two publicly hated women got together to reclaim their reputations.
The first, the Duchess of York, Anne Hyde, had been effectively cancelled by the highborn gentry for a litany of alleged social crimes. The second, the alluring Barbara Villiers, was the King’s acknowledged mistress and was, accordingly, despised. It was an era in which a woman could be ruined by “even the suggestion of inappropriate behaviour”, according to historical author Lauren Chater, whereas wealthy men possessed “an entitlement where they expected they would be able to do the things they wanted to do”.
The lusty king was unmatched in this field, to the point that his licentiousness earned him the nickname The Merry Monarch. As his sister-inlaw, Anne understood the King had a weakness for a pretty face, and she saw that, for women, the key to influence was beauty. So it was beauty that
