Ancestral Trails 2016 » Barbara VILLIERS (1641-1709)

Persoonlijke gegevens Barbara VILLIERS 

• Zij is geboren in het jaar 1641 in St Margaret, Westminster Abbey, Parliament Square, Westminster, Middlesex.
• Zij is gedoopt op 27 november 1640 in St Margaret, Westminster Abbey, Parliament Square, Westminster, Middlesex.

  Let op: Gedoopt (27 november 1640) voor geboren (??-??-1641).

• Titel: 1st Duchess of Cleveland, Countess of Castlemaine
• Zij is overleden op 9 oktober 1709 in Chiswick, Ealing, Middlesex, zij was toen 68 jaar oud.

  Died from Dropsy

• Een kind van William VILLIERS en Mary BAYNING

Gezin van Barbara VILLIERS

(1) Zij is getrouwd met Robert FIELDING.

Zij zijn getrouwd op 25 november 1705, zij was toen 64 jaar oud.

Het echtpaar is op mei 1707 gescheiden.

(2) Zij is getrouwd met Roger PALMER.

Zij zijn getrouwd op 14 april 1659, zij was toen 18 jaar oud.

Het echtpaar is in 1662 gescheiden.

(3) Zij is getrouwd met Charles II STEWART.

Zij zijn getrouwd.

Kind(eren):

1. Barbara FITZROY  1672-1737 
2. Anne FITZROY  1661-1722 
3. Henry FITZROY  1663-1690 
4. Charles FITZROY  1662-1730
5. George FITZROY  1665-1716
6. Charlotte FITZROY  1664-1709 

• Het echtpaar heeft gemeenschappelijke voorouders.



Notities over Barbara VILLIERS

Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland (27 November [O.S. 17 November] 1640 - 9 October 1709), more often known by her maiden name Barbara Villiers or her title of Countess of Castlemaine, was an English royal mistress of the Villiers family and perhaps the most notorious of the many mistresses of King Charles II of England, by whom she had five children, all of them acknowledged and subsequently ennobled. Her influence was so great that she has been referred to as "The Uncrowned Queen". Barbara was the subject of many portraits, in particular by court painter Sir Peter Lely. Her extravagance, bad temper, adultery with the king, and influence at court provoked the diarist John Evelyn to describe her as the "curse of the nation", whereas Samuel Pepys often wrote admiringly of seeing her.

Barbara's first cousin Elizabeth Villiers (later 1st Countess of Orkney 1657-1733) was the presumed mistress of King William III.

She converted to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism in 1663.

Early life
Born into the Villiers family as Barbara Villiers, in the parish of St. Margaret's, Westminster, Middlesex, she was the only child of William Villiers, 2nd Viscount Grandison, a half-nephew of the 1st Duke of Buckingham, and of his wife Mary Bayning, co-heiress of Paul Bayning, 1st Viscount Bayning. On 20 September 1643 her father died in the First English Civil War from a wound sustained at the Battle of Newbury while leading a brigade of Cavaliers. He had spent his considerable fortune on horses and ammunition for a regiment he raised himself; his widow and daughter were left in straitened circumstances. Shortly after Grandison's death, Barbara's mother married secondly Charles Villiers, 2nd Earl of Anglesey, a cousin of her late husband.

Upon the execution of King Charles I in 1649, the impoverished Villiers family secretly transferred its loyalty to his son, Charles, Prince of Wales. Every year on 29 May, the new King's birthday, young Barbara, along with her family, descended to the cellar of their home in total darkness and clandestinely drank to his health. At that time, Charles was living at The Hague, supported by his brother-in-law, William of Orange.

Royal mistress
Barbara Palmer's lack of fortune limited her marriage prospects, despite her beauty.Tall, voluptuous, with masses of brunette hair, slanting, heavy-lidded violet eyes, alabaster skin, and a sensuous, sulky mouth, Barbara Villiers was considered to be one of the most beautiful of the Royalist women, but her lack of fortune left her with reduced marriage prospects. Her first serious romance was with Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield, but he was searching for a rich wife; he would wed Elizabeth Butler in 1660. On 14 April 1659 she married Roger Palmer (later 1st Earl of Castlemaine) against his family's wishes; his father predicted that she would make him one of the most miserable men in the world. Palmer was a Roman Catholic. The two separated in 1662, following the birth of her first son. They remained married until the death of Castlemaine, who predeceased Villiers, but it has been claimed that he did not father any of his wife's children.

Barbara Villiers became King Charles's mistress in 1660, while still married to Palmer, and while Charles was still in exile at The Hague. The Palmers had joined the ambitious group of supplicants who sailed for Brussels at the end of 1659. As a reward for her services, the King created her husband Baron Limerick and Earl of Castlemaine in 1661. In many contemporary accounts, including Pepys's Diary, she is referred to as "Lady Castlemaine".

Of her six children, five were acknowledged by Charles as his:

Lady Anne Palmer, later FitzRoy (1661-1722), probably daughter of Charles II, although some people believed she bore a resemblance to the Earl of Chesterfield. She later became the Countess of Sussex.
Charles Palmer, later FitzRoy (1662-1730), styled Lord Limerick and later Earl of Southampton, created Duke of Southampton (1675), later 2nd Duke of Cleveland (1709)
Henry FitzRoy (1663-1690), created Earl of Euston (1672) and Duke of Grafton (1675)
Charlotte FitzRoy (1664-1718), later Countess of Lichfield. She gave birth to at least eighteen children.
George FitzRoy (1665-1716), created Earl of Northumberland (1674) and Duke of Northumberland (1683)
Barbara (Benedicta) FitzRoy (1672-1737) - Barbara Villiers claimed that she was Charles's daughter, but she was probably the child of her mother's second cousin and lover, John Churchill, later Duke of Marlborough

By 1662, Barbara, the King's mistress, had more influence at the court than his queen consort, Catherine of Braganza. In point of fact, Barbara chose to give birth to their second child at Hampton Court Palace while he and the queen were honeymooning. In the summer of 1662 she was appointed Lady of the Bedchamber despite opposition from Queen Catherine and Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, chief advisor to the King and a bitter enemy of Barbara's. Behind closed doors, Barbara and the Queen feuded constantly. She combined with the future Cabal Ministry to bring about Clarendon's downfall. On his dismissal in August 1667, Barbara publicly mocked him; Clarendon gently reminded her that if she lived, one day she too would be old. His dislike of her probably sprang from the fact that she was his cousin by marriage, and he felt personally embarrassed by her role as royal mistress.

Barbara's influence over the King waxed and waned. Her victory in being appointed as Lady of the Bedchamber was followed by rumours of an estrangement between her and the King, the result of his infatuation with Frances Stuart. In December 1663, Barbara announced her conversion to Roman Catholicism. Historians disagree as to why she did so. Some believe it was an attempt to consolidate her position with the King, and some believe it was a way of strengthening her ties with her Catholic husband. The King treated the matter lightly, saying that he was interested in ladies' bodies, but not their souls. The Court was equally flippant, the general view being that the Church of Rome had gained nothing by her conversion, and the Church of England had lost nothing.

In June 1670 Charles created her Baroness Nonsuch (as she was the owner of Nonsuch Palace). She was also, briefly, granted the ownership of Phoenix Park in Dublin as a present from the King. She was made Countess of Castlemaine and Duchess of Cleveland in her own right. However, no one at court was sure if this was an indication that she was being jettisoned by Charles, or whether this was a sign that she was even higher in his favours. The dukedom was made with a special remainder which allowed it to be passed to her eldest son, Charles FitzRoy, despite his illegitimacy.

Character
Barbara was known for her dual nature. Diarist John Evelyn called her "the curse of the nation"; yet, others described her as great fun, keeping a good table and with a heart to match her famous temper. Lady Barbara took advantage of her influence over the King, using it to her own benefit. She would help herself to money from the Privy Purse and take bribes from the Spanish and the French. She was famously extravagant and promiscuous. She also meddled in politics, supporting the Second Dutch War (declared in February 1665), along with most of the court and Parliament. But there are accounts of exceptional kindness from Barbara; once, after a scaffold had fallen onto a crowd of people at the theatre, she rushed to assist an injured child, and was the only court lady to have done so.

Destruction of the Nonsuch Palace
In 1670 Charles II gave her the famed Nonsuch Palace. She had it pulled down around 1682-3 and sold off the building materials to pay gambling debts.

Downfall
While the King had taken other mistresses, the most notable being the actress Nell Gwynne, Barbara took other lovers too, including the acrobat Jacob Hall, Henry Jermyn, 1st Baron Dover and her second cousin John Churchill. Her lovers benefited financially from the arrangement; Churchill purchased an annuity with £5,000 Barbara gave him. The King, who was no longer troubled by Barbara's infidelity, was much amused when he heard about the annuity, saying that after all a young man must have something to live on. As the result of the 1673 Test Act, which essentially banned Catholics from holding office, Barbara lost her position as Lady of the Bedchamber, and the King cast her aside completely from her position as a mistress, taking Louise de Kérouaille as his newest "favourite" royal mistress. The King advised Barbara to live quietly and cause no scandal, in which case he "cared not whom she loved".

In 1676 she travelled to Paris with her four youngest children, but returned to England four years later. She was reconciled with the King, who was seen enjoying an evening in her company a week before he died in February 1685. After his death, Barbara, aged forty-five, began an affair with Cardonell Goodman, an actor of terrible reputation, and in March 1686 she gave birth to his child, a son. In 1705 Roger Palmer died, and she married Major-General Robert "Beau" Fielding, an unscrupulous fortune-hunter whom she later had prosecuted for bigamy. She died at the age of 68 on 9 October 1709 at Chiswick Mall after suffering from oedema, known at the time as dropsy. Today, this would be described as oedema of the legs, with congestive heart failure.

Descendants
Barbara had many notable descendants, including Diana, Princess of Wales, Sarah, Duchess of York, the Mitford sisters, philosopher Bertrand Russell, Sir Anthony Eden, British Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957, and Serena Armstrong-Jones, Countess of Snowdon.
SOURCE: Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Palmer,_1st_Duchess_of_Cleveland

Born Barbara Villiers, the only child of William Villiers, 2nd Viscount Grandison and his wife, Mary Bayning. She married Roger Palmer in 1659 against his family's wishes. The couple separated in 1662 some two years after she found favor with King Charles II. She remained married to Castlemaine, whom Charles created Baron Limerick and Earl of Castlemaine, until his death in 1705. Charles ordered his mistress be granted a position as Lady of the Bedchamber to the Queen Consort in August 1662, a move opposed by both the Queen and in Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, one of the most powerful of the King's advisors and Barbara's arch enemy at court. Her house became the rendezvous for opponents of Lord Chancellor Clarendon, she was notably delighted at his fall from power in 1667. She was lauded as a beauty, criticized for her churlish manner, extravagant to the point where she became notorious for helping herself to money from the Privy Purse, she accepted bribes from the Spanish and French in order to sway opinion, and was well known for using her influence to her own benefit. She was also promiscuous. In addition to the King, she was known to have had affairs with many men including the Earl of Chesterfield, the Duke of Marlborough, the playwright William Wycherley, Ralph Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu, Henry Jermyn, Charles Berkeley, James Hamilton, a theatre performer named Jacob Hall. She had six children, the paternity for several of whom is contended, and it was likely that at least three different men fathered her brood, despite the fact that Charles II generously acknowledged five of them. She was created 1st Duchess of Cleveland, 1st Baron Nonsuch, and 1st Countess of Southampton in her own right in August 1670. Her sons were also granted titles of their own: Charles, created Duke of Southampton in 1675; Henry, created Earl of Euston in 1672 and Duke of Grafton in 1675; and George, created Earl of Northumberland in 1674. Her favored status with the king began to wane after 1670, and by 1674 she had been replaced in his affections by Louise de Kéroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth. She married the notorious rake, Robert Fielding on November 25, 1705, shortly after Castlemaine's death, and divorced him in May 1707. She succumbed to dropsy some two years later. (bio by: Iola)
SOURCE: www.findagrave.com


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