Our curator, Kristian Martin, looks at the notorious sex life of the famous diarist Samuel Pepys. Despite his marriage to Elizabeth St Michel from , Pepys had regular mistresses and engaged in casual affairs with servants, barmaids and companions alongside the wives, daughters and mothers of friends and colleagues. Elizabeth was angry and distraught, Deb was dismissed shortly afterwards and Pepys apparently ended the affair.
His opportunistic and predatory groping of women when the situation arose was resisted, fought-off and spurned by some. On 18 August Pepys wrote:. Writing them down undoubtedly gave him pleasure and acted as absolution. Charles II quickly gained a reputation for his voracious sexual appetite. Charles did little to crush this reputation β in fact he appears to have encouraged it β and his infidelity was certainly no secret.
The King sired at least 12 children with a string of mistresses who resided in his palaces, while others, from actresses to aristocrats, passed through Whitehall via a side entrance on a nightly basis. Barbara exuded sexual confidence and her reputation in the bedroom rivalled that of the King. Like the King, Pepys was a married man. Both his diary and correspondence make it clear that he loved her very much.
He was insanely jealous of any contact she had with other men β unfairly judging her in terms of his own behaviour β and despite rows which sometimes tipped into violence, they had much in common.
Yet Elizabeth appears to have had serious gynaecological problems which may have stopped her from enjoying sex and Pepys bemoans her understandable lack of interest in it. Perhaps their sexual incompatibility β and the sheer thrill β was why Pepys therefore sought carnal gratification away from home. Search Want to search our collection? Search here.
