Herb strewers made sure that there were no foul odors in the royal home
We cannot imagine how hard it must have been for people living before sewage systems came to be. Nowadays, most of the world’s population thankfully has a sewer in their homes that can take away all the waste from their homes. Still, there was a time when not even the wealthiest could do that.
In the 17th century, the Thames River was completely full of human waste from London. Besides, the city itself was not very clean in general, which did not help matters either. To counter these foul odors, herb strewers would spread herbal and floral scents throughout the royal family residence.