Swinging sixties

Harlot is such a wonderfully evocative word. ‘Housewife’ equally so but in a different way. And ‘heroines’ could cover each of these or something else entirely. Dr Lucy Worsley’s latest excursion into Restoration Girl Power, Harlots, Housewives & Heroines: A 17th Century History For Girls starts with the most titillating – the harlot and all that encompasses.

Well, what that initially covers is the fact that Charles II came back from exile on the Continent with an awareness of the career mistress – ooh la la! And more than an academic interest in such pursuits. The 1760s were decadent, boisterous and still quite fragile at court. The king’s father had been deposed and decapitated don’t you know, so that’s bound to put a bit of caution into any monarch’s step. Which allows him to step back from the role of despot and listen to what his advisors were telling him. It just so happened that some of these lips that were whispering into his ear where attached to some rather dishy and clever ladies. It was a strong position to be in, royal mistress, which could be achieved despite previous entanglements with such messy things as, say, husbands.

Dr Lucy is a keen educator, and makes it easy to get your teeth into the anecdotal history of court living. With secret doors in the king’s chambers setting the scene of the transition from puritanical living to a time when a cunning lady of breeding could eclipse her husband in influence – much to his chagrin – it was still possible for a beautiful lady to refuse the advances of the king and still keep her head, it’s quite an age.

“Three-hundred years doesn’t seem quite as far away by the end of the programme”

Painting it, with the introduction of pamphlets and dangerously satirical plays, as the introduction of celebrities, they were both celebrated and lampooned. Three-hundred years doesn’t seem quite as far away by the end of the programme as it did at the start. With Pepys’ ‘scrapbook’ of his own personal pin-ups, Nell Gwynn selling miniatures of herself with small outfits that could be placed over the said miniature to dress-up like a paper doll, leaving her as either queen or nun – depending on your preference. Pop culture doesn’t seem like such a modern invention.

The next episode promises to cover the roles of women not so lucky to be blessed with noble birth. Either maid, mother or widow – these were the options for the less privileged, and I’ve got a feeling Dr Lucy will find some way to empower each of these.

It’s nice to have history told of women’s lives. Properly researched, well told and not just skipping over them as ornamentation. Sometimes it feels like there must only have been about a dozen women in history before the suffrage movement, whilst the rest just looked pretty, poured the brandy and provided sons. It’s good to know there are many, not so well documented but still there, women shaping history and its course. And my ruddy jingo they had a good time at the court of Charles II.

Harlots, Housewives & Heroines: A 17th Century History for Girls, BBC4, Tuesday 22 May