courtesan1   please click on and scroll down.

As I have mentioned before courtesans were generally women who were mistresses – or kept women.  Although they often had more than one benefactor in their short lived careers – never more than one at a time as this would have been defeating the object - desire and possession.  It was often the custom for a courtesan to be passed on to a friend or relative when her benefactor moved on to pastures new.  As in the case of Lily Langtry whos most famous benefactor was the Prince of Wales - Edward V11 who is said to have lost interest in her when she got drunk at a party and slipped on an ice cube; ooops.  He introduced her to Prince Louis of Battenburg (father of Lord Louis Mountbatten)  supposedly in order to offload her.  Just aswell it wasnt in my day as I dont think I would have lasted very long!  Its also thought that Nell Gwyn may have been a child prostitute, working in brothels she is said to have been a mistress to several men, but again, only one at a time.  In those days the word whore related to kept women and adulteresses. 

Although not an official  mistress of the Merry Monarch  ‘Pretty, witty Nell’ Gwyn was a favoured lover of Charles 11 and stayed with him until his death. He was also the father of her two sons-two of several offspring by his mistresses.  Although Nell was never given a title herself, the king made her son Duke of St Albans no less.