This came up in a private conversation with @VVD0D95 and I was wondering if anyone can help.
Louis XIV and Charles II both lost their virginity to ladies-in-waiting to their mothers or at least significantly older court ladies who were tasked with this job (Louis to 'One Eyed Kate' Catherine Bellier, Baronesse de Beauvais; and Charles to Christabella Wyndham, his former wetnurse).
However, I can't seem to find out if this was a common practice (or a practice at all) or just a once-off. Antonia Fraser's bio of Louis XIV records that it would not be to Marie Mancini - his first love - that Louis XIV would've lost his virginity. Such things were simply not the way it was done. But do we know of any other occurences - i.e. whether this was a "tradition" or a "common practice" versus Charles and Louis were simply outliers? I suspect Diane de Poitiers may have been the lady to instruct Henri II, and his older brother likewise had an older mistress when he died (maybe even the one who made a man out of him). But, then, there are other instances where it seems very unlikely that a prince had initiation of any sort into the arts of love (Louis XVI, Prince Arthur (older brother of Henry VIII)) or where the couple got married at such a young age (Louis, duc de Bourgogne and Adelaide de Savoie, parents of Louis XV; Henri II and Caterina de Medici; François II and Mary, Queen of Scots) that it likewise leads to questions.
Sorry if the topic seems weird or crass
Louis XIV and Charles II both lost their virginity to ladies-in-waiting to their mothers or at least significantly older court ladies who were tasked with this job (Louis to 'One Eyed Kate' Catherine Bellier, Baronesse de Beauvais; and Charles to Christabella Wyndham, his former wetnurse).
However, I can't seem to find out if this was a common practice (or a practice at all) or just a once-off. Antonia Fraser's bio of Louis XIV records that it would not be to Marie Mancini - his first love - that Louis XIV would've lost his virginity. Such things were simply not the way it was done. But do we know of any other occurences - i.e. whether this was a "tradition" or a "common practice" versus Charles and Louis were simply outliers? I suspect Diane de Poitiers may have been the lady to instruct Henri II, and his older brother likewise had an older mistress when he died (maybe even the one who made a man out of him). But, then, there are other instances where it seems very unlikely that a prince had initiation of any sort into the arts of love (Louis XVI, Prince Arthur (older brother of Henry VIII)) or where the couple got married at such a young age (Louis, duc de Bourgogne and Adelaide de Savoie, parents of Louis XV; Henri II and Caterina de Medici; François II and Mary, Queen of Scots) that it likewise leads to questions.
Sorry if the topic seems weird or crass