English royal mistress

In the English court, a royal mistress was a woman who was the lover of the King. She may have been taken either before or after his accession to the throne. Although it generally is only used of females, by extrapolation, the relation can cover any lover of the monarch whether male or female. To date no English reigning Queen is known to have had a lover.

Monarchs had an incentive to take mistresses in that they generally made dynastic marriages of convenience, and there was often little love in them.

Beyond the physical relationship, the royal mistress would often exercise a profound influence over the King, extending even to affairs of State. Her relationship with the Queen could be tense, although some wives appear to have felt little jealousy in the matter.

Henry II had several long-term mistresses, including Annabel de Balliol and Rosamund Clifford. He had several illegitimate children by them; among the most prominent of these were Geoffrey (later Archbishop of York) and William (later Earl of Salisbury).

Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. Edward had a very close relationship with Piers Gaveston, who had first joined his household in 1300. The precise nature of Edward and Gaveston's relationship is uncertain; they may have been friends, lovers or sworn brothers. Gaveston's arrogance and power as Edward's favourite provoked discontent both among the barons and the French royal family, and Edward was forced to exile him. On Gaveston's return, the King was pressured into agreeing to wide-ranging reforms called the Ordinances of 1311. Gaveston was banished by the barons, to which Edward responded by revoking the reforms and recalling his favourite. Led by Edward's cousin, the Earl of Lancaster, a group of the barons seized and executed Gaveston in 1312.

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