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Lucy Worsley presents Harlots, Housewives and Heroines: A Girl's Guide to the 17th Century



So it's been wicked hot here in New York, too hot to do much of anything but lay around near the air conditioner and watch TV.  My new favorite is Harlots, Houswives and Heroines presented by Dr. Lucy Worsley which was orignally shown on BBC 4 in the UK. Lucy is the Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces, the independent charity looking after The Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace State Apartments, the Banqueting House in Whitehall, and Kew Palace in Kew Gardens, so she really knows her stuff. She's also the author of the fabulous books Courtiers and If These Walls Could Talk (also available on You Tube).

I must confess that I have a bit of a girl crush on Lucy Worsley ever since I watched the programme on Henry VIII on National Geographic that she presented. I suspect that she would be loads of fun to have a drink with.  She seems equally fun in the programmes that she's presented for BBC4.  In fact my dream evening would be to have dinner and drinks with Lucy, Hallie Rubenhold (who also pops up in the series), Amanda Vickery, Amanda Foreman and Kate Williams. This series is after my own heart.  Not only is it set in one of my favorite centuries, but it is filled with fun Scandalous Women. Many of them have appeared on this blog including Barbara Palmer, Nell Gwynn and Catherine Sedley. But I've also been introduced to some fabulous women that I'd never head about such as Margaret, Duchess of Newcaste and Elizabeth, Duchess of Lauderdale (you can expect posts soon on these two women!).  There are also loads of dishy portraits of Charles II, who is my favorite King of England.

Thanks to Evangeline Holland of Edwardian Promenade, we can watch all 3 episodes on YouTube as well as Lucy's other programme on The Regency era. I wish that someone would do an American version of this.  It would be fascinating to learn about some of the personalities living in the colonies during this period such as Anne Hutchinson, Elizabeth Winthrop and Pocahontas. Are you listening to me History Channel?

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