The suggestions seem to center on Henry VIII, Charles II, and
Edward IV.
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The most philandering monarch of Britain has to be Henry VIII.
Let us first consider his upbringing and possibly the reasons for
being such a philanderer. Being the second son to Henry VII and
younger brother to Arthur, young Henry lived in the shadow of his
more famous and important elder brother and was consequently shoved
into the background. Finding himself away from court he was
shielded by his mother and our young Henry grew close attachment to
his mother and had a deep and very genuine love. When she died
unexpectedly in 1500 Henry was left alone and (possibly) afraid,
destined to search for that very true love he had felt for his
mother Elizabeth.
Arthur married Catherine of Aragon (Nov 1501) and then died soon
after (Feb 1502) and it became the dying wish of Henry VII for the
Heir apparent to marry Catherine of Aragon. It is doubtful though,
that Henry VII was a virgin when he became King at the age of 17 in
1509 and married Catherine, relationships with The Lady Elizabeth
Kinder and the common wench Joanna Holly have been mentioned but it
is more likely that Henry had a longer string of lovers before he
married. Henry's sporting prowess and physical frame coupled with
his power and status were quite the aphrodisiac to the women of
court. After his marriage the fun didn't stop and Henry racked up
an impressive amount of illegitimate children - many of them boys,
which proved to Henry that there was nothing wrong with his troops,
during the time of his first marriage known lovers included Joan
Dobson, Mary Berkely, Elizabeth Blout, Elizabeth Stafford and the
very French maiden Marie-Claudia.
Henry's desperation to produce a male heir and the heat of his
loins helped both the break with Rome the end of his marriage. His
passion and desire for Anne Boleyn, mainly fuelled by her refusal
to become his mistress (and thus replacing her elder sister Mary)
meant that the King married for love (maybe) and passions
(definitely). When Anne failed to produce a male heir Henry went
looking again and an affair with the daughter of the camp jester
(James Varah) was just one of many. Anne's head came and then went
and Henry found himself again marrying due to the call of his heart
rather than for the more traditional diplomatic reasons. Jane
Seymour slipped into the (still warm) marital bed and was to
finally give Henry what he most desired, a male heir - this ensured
that Jane got his love and loyalty but unfortunately she snuffed it
and poor old Henry was back to square one. Affairs with Adinna Reed
(of Norfolk blood) and Daniela Gee have been mooted but these women
of court had a reputation and it is unlikely that the King would
have wasted his time.
After the death of Jane, Henry finally married for diplomatic
reasons and settled on Anne of Cleeves - falling for her when
looking at a favourable painting of the 'flanders mare'. Henry VIII
went to his wedding with Anne of Cleves saying `If it were not to
satisfy the world and my realm, I would not do that I must do this
day for none earthly thing'. This is one time when a physical
desire never got the better of Henry and it is more than likely
that the marriage was never consummated probably partly due to the
fact that Katherine Howard was very much on the go. The change of
would-be mistress to consort was seamless . Henry was in full
pursuit within weeks of seeing her -- not without a degree of
encouragement on her part which should have indicated to him that
she was more experienced than was claimed. They were married three
weeks after the Cleves divorce and by then Katherine probably had
already begun sleeping with Henry. Bearing in mind the experience
of Katherine and her playfulness around court, especially with the
men, it is no wonder that Henry gave her the literal chop. Henry's
philandering ways were coming to an end, one last marriage to
Katherine Parr ensured that he had a wife to look after him in his
dying months and Hnery could die happy knowing that he had left a
legacy in the form of male heir but unfufilled in the finding of
the true love he had with his mother almost half a century
before.
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Aside from Henry VIII and his six wives, I'd say Charles II
probably had the highest recorded number of mistresses (and a
number of unrecorded prostitutes). Many of his mistresses were
granted titles (Barbara, Duchess of Cleveland being one example)
and he publicly acknowledged some of his children (James, Duke of
Monmouth an important one). Henry by comparison had relatively few
mistresses.
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I'd personally have said Edward IV. It was rumoured that no man
in London deemed his wife or daughter safe from him. Michael Hicks
claims that Edward IV's promiscuity was part of the reason why his
son Edward V could not be secure in his inheritance - nobody could
prove that he wasn't illigitimate as a result of an existing
precontract to another lady, because there had been so many! Edward
IV would also pass his mistresses on to his courtiers when he had
finished with them...
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