Walter, Lucy (c. 1630–1658)

Welsh mistress of Charles II . Name variations: Mrs. Barlow or Lucy Barlow; incorrectly Lucy Walters and Lucy Waters. Born around 1630 in Paris, France; died in 1658 in Paris; daughter of Richard Walter of Haverfordwest; mistress of Colonel Robert Sidney, in 1644; mistress of Charles II (1630–1685), king of England (r. 1661–1685), from 1648 to 1650; mistress of Henry Bennet, in 1650; children: (with Charles II) James Crofts Scott, duke of Monmouth (April 9, 1649–1685); possibly Mary Crofts (b. May 6, 1651, who married William Sarsfield).

Lucy Walter, also known as Mrs. Barlow and sometimes incorrectly as Lucy Walters or Lucy Waters, had gone to The Hague in 1644 and been a colonel's mistress there before becoming the famed mistress of England's King Charles II between 1648 and 1650. In 1649, she gave birth to Charles' illegitimate son, James. James later became the duke of Monmouth and led the unsuccessful Monmouth Rebellion in 1685, after Charles' brother James (II) had been made king. After 1650, Walter became a mistress to a succession of other men. In 1656, she was in Cologne when Charles' friends bribed her to return to England, where she was arrested as a spy and sent back to Holland. She died in Paris two years later. Between 1673 and 1680, it was widely rumored that Charles II had legally married Walter before a cleric and a witness, an allegation he denied with three declarations issued in 1678. Elizabeth Goudge wrote a historical novel about Walter, The Child from the Sea (1970).

Jacquie Maurice , freelance writer, Calgary, Alberta, Canada