She is believed to have been born in 1630 or a little later at Roch Castle near Haverfordwest, Wales into a family of middling gentry. She was the daughter of William Walter (died 1650) of Roch Castle, near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, and his wife Elizabeth (died 1652), daughter of John Prothero and niece of John Vaughan, 1st Earl of Carbery. The Walters were a Welsh family of good standing, who declared for the king during the Civil War.
Roch Castle having been captured and burned by the parliamentary forces in 1644, Lucy Walter found shelter first in London and then at the Hague. There, in 1648, she met the future king, possibly renewing an earlier acquaintance. There is little reason for believing the story that she was his first mistress; it is certain that he was not her first lover.
The intimacy between him and this " brown, beautiful, bold but insipid creature, " as John Evelyn calls her, who chose to be known as Mrs Barlow (Barlo) lasted with intervals till the autumn of 1651, and Charles claimed the paternity of a child born in 1649, whom he subsequently created duke of Monmouth.
A daughter, Mary (b. 1651), of whom the reputed father was Henry Bennet, earl of Arlington, married William Sarsfield, brother of Patrick Sarsfieid, earl of Lucan.
On the termination of her connexion with Charles II, Lucy Walter abandoned herself to a life of promiscuous immorality, which resulted in her premature death, at Paris, in 1658. Her name is often wrongly written Walters or Waters.
On the termination of her liaison with Charles II, Lucy Walter abandoned herself to a life of promiscuity, which may have resulted in her premature death.
Quotes from others about the person
Robert Clifton (2006): "During the exclusion crisis [the possible marriage of Charles and Lucy] offered the Whigs the easiest way of excluding the Duke of York from the throne, while in 1685 it legitimized those who took up arms for Monmouth against James II. For these reasons Lucy Walter's short life is important as it explains why most of the political nation considered that a marriage between her and Charles was highly unlikely, but shows too that there were some straws available for the pro-marriage party to make use of. "
