Reasons A Royal Mistress Was Taken
The primary reason a king would take a mistress seems to be the fact that royal marriages were rarely, if ever, based on love alone. Most often, English monarchs made a dynastic match, first for the production of heirs of royal blood and second for the treaties and huge dowry that often accompanied such brides. Compatibility was rarely considered in the contracting of these marriages.
Often, these brides were stringently instilled with a sense of chastity that often developed into sexual frigidity. To a king whose sexual appetites were often nurtured by friends and father-figures from a young age, this was a difficult barrier to surmount. This, added to the fact that often there was no physical attraction between the two royal partners, creates a situation which, to the sensibilities of the time, necessitated the establishment of a royal mistress.
Read more about this topic: English Royal Mistress
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—William Shakespeare (15641616)
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“Mrs. de Winter: Mrs. Danvers must be furious with me.
Maxim de Winter: Oh, hang Mrs. Danvers! Why on earth should you be frightened of her? You behave more like an upstairs maid or something, not like the mistress of the house at all.
Mrs. de Winter: Yes, I know I do. But I feel so uncomfortable. I try my best every day, but its very difficult with people looking you up and down as if you were a prize cow.”
—Robert E. Sherwood (18961955)