Throughout the enforced idleness of his exile, Charles II lived on credit, which became increasingly difficult for him, and harder still for his companions and suppliers, to obtain. All the time, however, he showed a patient determination to regain the throne, rejecting various plans to return to an England which was not yet ready for him. His steadiness prevailed, in spite of his liking for frivolous and dissolute company. His first serious mistress, Lucy Walters, bore him a son whom he later created Duke of Monmouth, but she behaved so scandalously that the King prevented her from bringing him up.

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