Some kinda freak

Among those commissioning copies of Lely’s portrait was Monmouth himself. Eighteen months later, in the early months of 1676, Lely was paid a hefty £75 for a version for Monmouth to present to Nell Gwyn. By 1676 the former actress, now retired from the stage, was living comfortably in the house the king had bought her on Pall Mall, which looked towards Whitehall across St James’s Park. She had had two sons by the king and he had granted her £4,000 a year to support them. In August 1674, as Monmouth and York attacked the mock ‘Maastricht’, the king had distributed a host of titles among his children: his eldest son with Barbara, now Duchess of Cleveland, was made Earl of Northumberland; his son with Louise de Keroualle, now Duchess of Portsmouth, was made Duke of Richmond; and Don Carlos was made Earl of Plymouth. The simultaneous marriage that month of the king and Barbara’s two daughters to newly ennobled bridegrooms may have been the spur. Smarting with indignation at all this largesse was Nell Gwyn, whose own son remained without a surname or title. She lobbied the king hard for remedy, and looked to Monmouth for support. He overshadowed all his siblings from his unassailable place in the king’s affections. But as he was not the child of a rival mistress he did not represent a direct threat to his siblings’ mothers. Indeed the fact that he had received the highest honours from the king set a precedent which they argued should be followed. With Monmouth her ally, Nell won the king over and her son was created Earl of Burford in December 1676. The friendship she developed with Monmouth would be important and she would ever after count herself his supporter and champion.