The real Lady Godiva lived from about 1040 AD to 1080 and her existence is well documented. According to the well-known legend she rode naked through the streets of Coventry, England to protest against her husband's taxes, levied on the local people. Earliest accounts have her riding naked through the market. Some later additions to the story (that she ordered the public to hide behind closed windows, that she covered herself with her hair or that she rode in her underwear) are almost certainly untrue, precisely because they are contradicted by earlier accounts.
From 1678 until the 1960s there was an annual Godiva Procession in the town of Coventry. This involved an actress or dancer riding through Coventry in very minimal clothing (usually), re-enacting Lady Godiva's ride. This tradition is again up and running, having been re-introduced in 1996.














