Scandals of the Glorious Revolution
Rumours about the sexual proclivities of King William III began to spread as soon as he took the English throne. What went on behind the closed doors of the royal court had implications for the nation.
On 30 May 1697 King William III of England received an extraordinary letter from his favourite of three decades, fellow Dutchman Hans Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland. Bentinck wrote:
Sire … the kindness that you have for a young man and the way it seems to authorize these freedoms and these heights, make the world say things that make me ashamed to hear … I thought it was the mischievous in England alone who made these bloody things! but I was struck like thunder when I saw that The Hague and the army provided the same speeches and tarnished a reputation that has never been subject to such attacks.
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