So, were Piers Gaveston and Hugh le Despenser Edward II’s “sweethearts”, or was he just good friends with them? Well, like Hilda Lewis, and I think like most people, I’m convinced that both of them were his lovers, and also that people weren’t particularly bothered about that, just about the fact that both of them were seen as greedy, disrespectful, and in receipt of a lot of money, power and influence to which they weren’t entitled. And she makes it quite clear that, whilst Edward had rotten taste in men and very little common sense himself, this was a true romance … much more so than Isabella’s relationship with Mortimer, to whom she firmly refers as a “paramour” rather than a “sweetheart”. Seriously? On whose planet are pilchards more interesting than female pirates?!Īnyway, to get back to the book, it says something rather nice about the late Hilda Lewis that she, born the year after Oscar Wilde’s trial, and writing in a style very much of her generation (like Jean Plaidy’s books, it seems very dated now, but I quite like it), in a book published in 1970, starts with a pillow talk conversation between Edward and Gaveston. But the parish council have rejected it, and a statue relating to the local pilchard industry has been suggested instead. Īs a slight aside, it’s been suggested that a statue of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, two 18th century female pirates thought to have been lovers (or, if you prefer, sweethearts), be put up on Burgh Island in Devon. So much nicer than “partner” or “boyfriend/girlfriend” 🙂. You can say “paramour”, or just “lover” but Hilda Lewis, born in 1896, rather charmingly describes first Gaveston and then le Despenser as “the king’s sweetheart”. Now, why is there no equivalent word to “mistress” for a male lover? “Master” just doesn’t work in this context: you wouldn’t talk about Catherine the Great having a lot of “masters”. To mark LGBT history month, a novel about the much-debated issue of Edward II’s relationships with Piers Gaveston and Hugh le Despenser the younger. Hopewellslibraryofli… on Ten Pound Poms – BBC…ĭavida Chazan on Mental Health Awareness Week…ĭavida Chazan on The King and I – Palace…
The King and I – Palace Theatre, Manchester.
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