The English aristocracy and their bed warmers

Before the hot water bottle era, how did people make a cozy bed? The answer, as far as the English aristocracy was concerned, was to use a human hot water bottle. A servant would be sent to the master’s icy bed to act as a bed warmer. Then, when his lordship had drunk his port and mocked his quail, he would retreat to his four-poster bed, turn off the human water bottle, and crawl into his now warmer bed. Your own personal hot water bottle!

Years later, when Prince James, heir to the British throne, was born in 1688, a bed warmer was at the heart of the plot to disinherit him. A rumor spread that Queen Mary had had a miscarriage and that she had been sent for a frying pan to heat. The conspirators convinced their subjects that a peasant’s baby had been replaced by the stillborn prince; Smuggled into the queen’s dresser hidden in a bed warmer! Doubts about the legitimacy of the baby Prince, and the desire of the conspirators to eliminate the Catholic line of succession, forced the Queen to flee to France for the safety of the “warmest Prince in bed.” He was never successful on the British throne. When he invaded 20 years later, he was defeated by the English fleet and George I was crowned King of England. His birthright was denied due to a bed warmer!

The bed at the center of the “Bed warmer Prince” scandal is located in Kensington Palace, the former home of Princess Diana. The bed warming incident played a major role in the birth of the future royal babies. It was decreed that a high-ranking government figure must be present in the queen’s bedroom, denying the possibility of any deception in the future and thus removing any doubt about the true identity of a royal baby. It was only when Queen Victoria gave birth to her first child that Prince Albert banned the practice, calling it “ridiculous!” A warmer bed!