Pandemics- great levellers?

If so, it’s puzzling that it’s invariably the poor who die most.

In 1665 after the ‘Great Plague’ broke out, Charles II ordered the mayor and aldermen of London to stay at their posts.

While he...
hopped in a boat and fled.

First to Hampton Court, then Salisbury, then Oxford; the Court kept moving.

The poor couldn’t afford to flee; even if they could, country towns would reject them, as it was known more poor people died, so assumed they were carriers.

Soon thousands a week were dying in London

But don’t worry - the King was having an AMAZING time!

The absentee ruler had his pregnant mistress with him, plus other women he was pursuing, like the lovely Frances Stewart, pictured, who his brother was also after.

His wife was tucked away nearby- but not too near. Larks!

In London 2/3 of shops were closed, plays and feasting prohibited, & ‘tippling houses’ restricted.
Infected people were being sealed into their houses.

But the Court in Oxford enjoyed ballets, plays and dances, as well as countless love affairs.

In January 1666, the people of Oxford were delighted to see the ‘rude, vulgar whoreson’ courtiers leave: & what a mess they left behind them: including ‘piles of excrement in every corner’.

In 8 months, up to 100,000 had died.

But the merriment of the Court continued, unabated.

Hear more about London’s 17C Plague Year tomorrow, from me on @BBCRadioLondon with @RobertElms at 11.30, live: then on BBC Sounds.