The Restoration court of Charles II is known not for governing, but for the seemingly endless bed-hopping antics of the Merry Monarch. Today, in this Trashy Divorces crossover, we meet the last mistress to join that odd club, Hortense Mancini. Born to a big brood in Rome – Hortense was the eighth of ten – the family moved to Paris after her father’s death, where her uncle Cardinal Mazarin gave them entry to the French court and planned for his nieces’ futures as wives. He chose poorly in the case of Hortense, but her unhappy marriage ultimately propelled her to the shores of England, as well as making her a celebrated writer.
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