 Throughout
the centuries, royal mistresses have been worshipped, feared, envied
and reviled. They set the fashions, encouraged the arts, and in some
cases, ruled nations. Eleanor Herman’s SEX WITH KINGS takes
us into the throne rooms and bedrooms of Europe’s most powerful
monarchs. Alive with flamboyant characters, outrageous humor and stirring
poignancy, this glittering tale of passion and politics chronicles
500 years of scintillating women and the kings who loved them.
Curiously, the main function of a royal mistress
was not to provide the king with sex, but with companionship. Forced
to marry repulsive foreign princesses, kings sought solace with a
woman of their own choice. And what women they were! From Madame de
Pompadour, the famous mistress of Louis XV, who kept her position
for nineteen years despite her frigidity, to modern-day Camilla Parker-Bowles,
who usurped no other than the glamorous Diana, Princess of Wales.
The successful royal mistress made herself irreplaceable,
catering to each of the king’s five senses. She was ready to
converse gaily with him when she was tired, make love until all hours
when she was ill, and cater to his every whim. Wearing a mask of beaming
delight over any and all discomforts she was never to be exhausted,
complaining or grief-stricken.
True, financial rewards for services rendered
were of royal proportions—some royal mistresses earned up to
$200 million in titles, pensions, jewels and palaces. Also, some kings
allowed their mistresses to exercise unlimited political power. But
for all its grandeur a royal courts was a scorpion’s nest of
insatiable greed, unquenchable lust, and vicious ambition.
Hundreds of beautiful women vied to unseat the
royal mistress. Many would suffer the slings and arrows of negative
public opinion, some met with tragic ends, and often they were pensioned
off to make room for younger women. But the royal mistress often had
the last laugh, as she lived well and richly off the fruits of her
‘sins.’
From the dawn of time, power has been a mighty
aphrodisiac. Using diaries, personal letters and diplomatic dispatches,
Eleanor Herman’s trailblazing research reveals the dynamics
of sex and power, rivalry and revenge at the most brilliant courts
of Europe. Wickedly witty and endlessly entertaining, this is a chapter
of women’s history which has remained unwritten—until
now.
274 pages with 16 color photographs
Price: $25.95 |
