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Books

The merry monarch and his mistresses; was sex for Charles II a dangerous distraction?

A review of The King’s Bed by Don Jordan and Michael Walsh finds the king’s concubines disappointingly greedy and self-seeking

31 January 2015

9:00 AM

31 January 2015

9:00 AM

The King’s Bed: Sex, Power and the Court of Charles II Don Jordan and Michael Walsh

Little Brown, pp.354, £20

In a tone of breezy bravado in keeping with their concept of their subject’s character, Don Jordan and Michael Walsh have written a swashbuckling life of Charles II. This is narrative history that seldom slows to accommodate analysis, the Restoration court presented as the stuff of a TV mini-series: febrile, frenetic and vivid.

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