ROYAL BABYLON by KARL SHAW : MISTRESS MANIFESTO BOOK REVIEW

First published here at Mistress Manifesto on January 17, 2010

If you want to read about Royal Personages who had Mistresses, usually several, at once or over time, ROYAL BABYLON is a book to read. (You'll be glad we no longer live without contraception! But some mistresses today still see pregnancy as a way to be supported for life or force the issue of marriage!) And when I say that there was lots and lots of craziness, I mean lots! This book is an argument against intermarriage!

on page 68 we read...

"The British royal family, through Queen Victoria and her nine children, was related to the German Emperor, the Czar of Russian, and the kings of Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Bulgaria, and Romania; and via Edward VII's wife, Alexandra, they were linked to the royal families of Greece, Denmark, and Norway... the biggest danger comes from marrying cousins, because their children can inherit a double dose of recessive genes... The blue bloods may have lived hundreds, even thousands, of miles apart, but they were still in effect marrying the girl next door...


DID INTERBREEDING MAKE PEOPLE CRAZY OR MAYBE HYPERSEXUAL?

on page 89 we read...

"When King Augustus II of Poland lay on his deathbed in 1733, his last words were "My whole life has been an unceasing sin --- God have mercy on me!" ... (He was known for) his exceptional physical size and strength, his gluttony, his drinking prowess and his lechery, but most of all for his astonishing virility. Over a period of half a century he fathered 365 bastards, give or take a dozen. It is probably only fair to record that there was also one legitimate heir.... Augustus presided over an enormous warren of concubines. Some enjoyed official status; other he preferred to keep quiet about --- his own daughter, the Countess Orzelska, for example. One of his favor ties was the Swedish Countess Aurora of Konigsmark; another was Fatima, a captured Turkish slave girl. Some of his more ambitious mistresses negotiated legal contracts and annual salaries for themselves; one earned herself a large palace in Dresden...

on page 90 we read...

"August the Strong's progeny went on to populate most of Europe and some of them because famous in their own right, including Maurice de Saxe and his daughter George Sand.