On November 14, 1687, Nell Gwyn mistress of King Charles II of Britain dies in London. She became a legend, the only royal mistress in English history to provoke popular affection. She was one of many (there were 13 in all during his lifetime), but she was the least greedy of them all. When he lay dying he begged his heir, the Duke of York, “not to let poor Nellie starve.” In her early teens, Nell Gwyn was engaged to sell oranges at the King’s Theatre. Her natural wit and complete lack of self-consciousness caught the eye of the actor Charles Hart and others, and Dryden wrote plays to exploit her talents as a comic actress. She became Charles Hart’s mistress; she called him Charles the First, and was then passed to Charles Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, whom she dubbed Charles the Second, and later the King, calling him her Charles the Third. Barbara Palmer had been King Charles’ mistress for many years when he became enamoured of Nell. The rivalry between his mistresses made the King’s life difficult at times. He had 13 children by these women and agreed to support the children he believed were his. Nell was not greedy and grasping like her rivals, but did receive a house near Pall Mall. Towards the end of 1669 Nell withdrew from the stage because she was pregnant. The child was a boy: however her other son, born two years later, died. Unlike Charles’ other mistresses, Nell never received a title herself, but by using clever tactics she obtained a title for her son. When Charles died in 1685 Nell’s creditors descended upon her, she never did starve, but was in grave danger of being sent to a Debtors prison. She appealed to King James and to his credit; he settled her immediate debts and gave her a pension. Nell survived Charles by only two years and was only in her thirties when she died from a stroke on November 14, 1687 at Pall Mall House.

Charles, Prince of Wales was born on November 14, 1948 in Buckingham Place. He is the eldest child of Queen Elizabeth II. He is the longest-serving heir apparent in British history. After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from Trinity College, Cambridge, Charles served a tour of duty with the Royal Navy from 1971 to 1976. His 1981 wedding to Diana Spencer produced two sons, William and Harry. The couple divorced in 1996 after Diana publicly accused Charles of having an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, and Charles admitted adultery on television. Diana died in a car crash in 1997. In 2005, after a lengthy continued association, the Prince married Camilla.