Winifred Wells was a courtier at the Stuart

Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

court as a

Maid of Honour A maid of honour is a junior attendant of a queen in royal households. The position was and is junior to the lady-in-waiting. The equivalent title and office has historically been used in most European royal courts. Role Traditionally, a queen ...

to Queen consort

Catherine of Braganza Catherine of Braganza ( pt, Catarina de Bragança; 25 November 1638 – 31 December 1705) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland during her marriage to King Charles II, which lasted from 21 May 1662 until his death on 6 February 1685. She ...

. She was also one of the many

mistress Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to: Romance and relationships * Mistress (lover), a term for a woman who is in a sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a ...

es of King Charles II of England.Antonia Fraser, ''King Charles II'', Book Club Associates, originally published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd., London, 1979, p.285 Samuel Pepys refers to her as the King's mistress in his diary, and she also features in

Philibert de Gramont Philibert, Count de Gramont (1621 – 31 January 1707), was a French courtier and soldier, known as the protagonist of the ''Mémoires'' written by Anthony Hamilton (his brother-in-law). He was a younger half-brother of Antoine III of Gr ...

's famous ''Mémoirs''.

At the royal court

Wells was born about 1642 as the youngest daughter of Gilbert Wells of

Twyford, Hampshire Twyford is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England, approximately south of Winchester and near the M3 motorway and Twyford Down. In 2001, the population of the parish was 1,456. The village and parish are on the left bank of the It ...

.John Harold Wilson, ''Court Satires of the Restoration'', p.7, Google Books, retrieved 7 June 2010 The Wells family members were staunch

Royalists A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...

during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. She came to court early in the reign of King Charles II as she was one of Queen Catherine's original Maids of Honour. She became a mistress to King Charles sometime in 1662. Winifred is referred to in Philbert de Gramont's ''Mémoirs'' in which he wrote of her: "As her father had first served Charles I, she thought it would ill become his daughter to decline to be served by Charles II".''Mémoirs of

'' Wells was described by Gramont as having been a "big, splendidly handsome creature who dressed well", with the "carriage of a goddess and the physiognomy of a dreamy sheep"; however, Barbara Villiers, the King's chief mistress, compared her to a goose. In his diary entry for 8 February 1663, Samuel Pepys reported that it was said that Wells had "dropped a child during a court ball held on 31 December 1662". The child was allegedly fathered by the King. Pepys later went on to record that it was rumoured King Charles had given her £1,500 or £2,000 on 20 February 1663. Nine years later in September 1672, Charles made her another present of £2,150 as a marriage portion. Sometime before 14 July 1673, she married Thomas Wyndham, one of the King's equerries. Queen Catherine appointed her as a dresser, and she remained in Catherine's service until 1692, seven years after the death of King Charles.

References

1642 births Year of death unknown British maids of honour Mistresses of Charles II of England 17th-century English women 17th-century English people Household of Catherine of Braganza {{UK-noble-stub