Alice Perrers Philippa of Hainault, the respected and matronly queen of Edward III. Alice's beauty and charm caught the eye of King Edward III while at court. Shortly after, around 1366, when she was only 18 years of age (the king was 55), she became the mistress of Edward III. Only when Philippa died in 1369 of dropsy did Alice's affair with the king become more visible. Their affair aroused envy and hatred of Alice, as she was only 21 years old. Following the queen's death, a devastated Edward leaned heavily on her considerable abilities; her courtly dominance accelerated by his loss.
English and British royal mistress Melusine von der Schulenburg, who was so tall and scrawny that she was nicknamed "the maypole". Sophia von Kielmansegg, sometimes referred to as a mistress of George I, was actually his morganatic half-sister; they were both children of Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover. She was known to compete for influence with Melusine and assumed, or pretended, to be a mistress by the British courtiers. George II had only one principal mistress, Henrietta Howard, who maintained this station for well over a decade. It is probable that George II considered having a mistress necessary, for he was very much in love