Scandal at the Kings Company
A performance of ‘Catiline’ by the Kings Company of actors, and staring the famous character actress Katherine Corey as Sempronia, was a focus of much controversy in 1669.
Nell Gwyn was quarreling with the noblewoman Lady Elizabeth Harvey; Gwyn called the Lady a ‘hermaphordite’ and claimed to have rejected her lesbian advances. Gwyn also bribed and coached Corey into mimicking Harvey in her role as Sempronia. Lady Harvey hired thugs to hiss Corey onstage and throw oranges at her. The matter caused a major scandal. Lady Harvey prevailed upon the Lord Chamberlain (her cousin Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester) to arrest Corey and interrogate her; but Harvey’s rival Barbara Villiers, Lady Castlemaine got the King to release the actress.
Gwyn and Lady Harvey later became friends.
More Scarlett in her curtain dress :) Requested by blauerosen1994
