The King’s Anguish

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Blantyre, Lanarkshire, Scotland

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The Pleasures of Love

Frances Teresa Stuart, granddaughter of Walter Stuart,
1st Lord Blantyre and the face of Britannia

King Charles II and Frances Theresa Stuart
King Charles II and Frances Theresa Stuart

The King’s Anguish

While the King surrounded himself with a bevy of mistresses throughout his life, most historians see Frances, the “one who got away”, as the one love interest who truly broke his heart. During his pursuit of her, Charles wrote her the love poem,

“The Pleasures of Love”:

I pass all my hours in a shady old grove,
But I live not the day when I see not my love;
I survey every walk now my Phyllis is gone,
And sigh when I think we were there all alone,
Oh, then ‘tis I think there’s no Hell
Like loving too well.

But each shade and each conscious bower when I find
Where I once have been happy and she has been kind;
When I see the print left of her shape on the green,
And imagine the pleasure may yet come again;
Oh, then ‘tis I think that no joys are above
The pleasures of love.

While alone to myself I repeat all her charms,
She I love may be locked in another man’s arms,
She may laugh at my cares, and so false she may be,
To say all the kind things she before said to me!
Oh then ‘tis, oh then, that I think there’s no Hell
Like loving too well

But when I consider the truth of her heart,
Such an innocent passion, so kind without art,
I fear I have wronged her, and hope she may be
So full of true love to be jealous of me.
Oh then ‘tis I think that no joys are above
The pleasures of love.

~~~

Name: King Charles II
Born: May 29, 1630 at St. James Palace
Parents: Charles I and Henrietta Maria
Relation to Elizabeth II: 1st cousin 9 times removed
House of: Stuart
Ascended to the throne: May 29, 1660 aged 30 years
Crowned: April 23, 1661 at Westminster Abbey, and at Scone as King of Scots, 1 January 1651
Married: Catherine of Braganza
Children: Three children who died in infancy, and about 17 illegitimate children by at least 8 different mistresses
Died: February 6, 1685 at Whitehall Palace, London, aged 54 years, 8 months, and 10 days
Buried at: Westminster
Reigned for: 24 years, 8 months, and 9 days
Succeeded by: his brother James II

~~~

If you have any Poems… Send them to Bill

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