Love blue plaques on London buildings. Especially those that give a real sense of the period of history they belong to, as well as the person they portray.
Take this one at 79 Pall Mall for instance.
Belongs to Nell Gwynn, the most famous of all King Charles II mistresses.
Nell was quite a character. From very poor beginnings – she was a flower girl at Covent Garden market – she became an accomplished actress, performing at London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane where she caught the eye of none other than the King himself.
Charles already had plenty of mistresses but they were all of high breeding. Nell was the opposite. She had to scrimp and save for everything she wanted to achieve in life. But she knew how to use her charms and the King was capitated and agreed to put her up in rented premises at 79 Pall Mall to be close to him.
But this wasn’t good enough for Nell. She knew how to make a scene when it suited her. She exclaimed to the King that as she gave herself totally to him, she should have the premises at Pall Mall totally. She was taking about the freehold of course. No fool our Nell.
The King quickly caved in to avoid bad publicity and granted her the freehold.
The building Nell lived in is long gone, replaced by this Georgian building built in the 1800’s. But the freehold remains independent to this day, making it unique in so far as it’s the only building along Pall Mall that is not owned by the crown.
