Condoms believed to have belonged to The Earl of Warwick Henry Greville. (Warwickshire County Record Office via SWNS)
By Nathan Pynn
Victorian condoms made from animal guts and hidden away by "prudish" staff have been discovered in a castle archive.
The three 19th-century sheaths crafted from animal intestines and tied with ribbons have been unearthed at Warwick Castle.
The contraceptives date back to 1853 and belonged to Henry Greville, the Earl of Warwick.
The saucy relics were found by historians cataloging 1,303 boxes from the Greville family archive.
Countess of Warwick, Sarah Greville, 1826. (Warwickshire County Record Office via SWNS)
Their discovery sheds light on the Victorian approach to "safe sex" - although efforts to prevent disease often failed because many men reused the sheaths multiple times.
Archivist Laura Orriss said: "Previous prudish generations of staff kept them hidden."
The 173-year-old condoms will now go on public display alongside a remarkable collection of letters also uncovered in the archive.
Boxes of records line the shelves at Warwickshire County Record Office. (Warwickshire County Record Office via SWNS)
Among them is a note from Lady Eva Greville to her mother, Anne, describing the wild celebrations following the birth of the future King Edward VIII in 1894.
Lady Eva, a lady-in-waiting to Mary of Teck, recalled waiting in a drawing room for news before the baby's father, Prince George, Duke of York, "fell about my neck and embraced me."
She wrote: "In fact I think everybody embraced everybody else, champagne was at once sent for and we all at once drunk its health, and we all got very vague indeed.
"I am sure I drank about ten glasses, for as every fresh person came in we had to drink health over again."
Countess of Warwick: Frances Evelyn Daisy Greville, with her dogs, 1910s. (Warwickshire County Record Office via SWNS)
She later described the future king as "rather a sweet" and a "very big child."
Other letters penned by Lady Sarah Savile, who later married Henry Greville, revealed a teenage romance with Regency fashion icon Beau Brummell in the early 1800s.
In one love letter, Brummell wrote: "You are the only being who I ever really loved.
Warwick Castle where the drama went down. (SWNS)
"And the same sincere and devoted affection which I have ever cherished will remain undiminished whatever be its future fate."
The affair eventually ended after Lady Savile's mother stepped in.
The condoms and letters will go on display at Market Hall Museum in Warwick.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.