Current Royal Marriages and Historical Context

The current Prince of Wales, our future King, has married his mistress and she will become, barring an accident, our next Queen Consort. This is a unique situation and one that is unlikely to be repeated.

Of course, only seventy years ago, his great uncle was in a not dissimilar predicament which cost him his throne.

Royal Mistresses and Aristocratic Power

Royal Sex shows how a certain number of key aristocratic families appear to have cornered the market in providing our monarchs with mistresses over successive centuries.

The present Duchess of Cornwall is a prime example, her great-grandmother, Alice Keppel, was a mistress of Edward VII.

The reason? To capture and exploit royal power and patronage by placing a mistress or favourite at the centre of power.