THE LAST YEARS OF BARBARA VILLIERS - COUNTESS OF CASTLEMAINE - NOW DUCHESS OF CLEVELAND : THE AGING KING WITHOUT AN HEIR LOVES AND VISITS ALL HIS CHILDREN BY SEVERAL MISTRESSES

1668 : Barbara Villiers moved into her new home with her three youngest children, Henry, Charlotte, and George.  Anne and Charles, the two eldest, were in school. The King visited every day but it was generally understood that the King and his longest enduring mistress, Barbara, were just friends! Meanwhile Moll Davies was set up lavishly and also had a child and Nell Gwynn would soon, in 1670, also have a child. He loved his children and made visits to them and their mothers frequently. It was clear he would never have an heir with his Queen, Catherine of Braganza. The King, in an effort to placate Barbara, gave her another title - Duchess of Cleveland. 

In 1671, though Barbara had begun to take lovers at will, she became the mistress of John Churchill, who was a few years younger than she was. She would have a daughter she named Barbara Churchill. Barbara Villiers was in her early thirties and had experienced many pregnancies and as her children with the King grew up, she became concerned with their educations and arranging marriages for them.

Whatever problems that the King's advisors and friends had caused Barbara and her relationship with him over the years, the King kept on giving them honors and her children were desirable when it came to marriages. There was even a competitive spirit when it came to matchmaking.

Excerpt: ... Arms were granted to Anne and Charlotte, who were made Lady Companions of the Order of the Garter, and all three sons were granted arms, crests  and supporters. 

Excerpt page 153 from The Illustrious Lady by Elizabeth Hamilton

Six months after she became a Duchess, the King granted his mistress the house at Nonsuch with its surrounding parkland, with the remainder to Charles and George.... In 1673 her fortunes continued to augment with astonishing rapidity. Camouflaged as usual in the form of gifts to her uncles, the Duchess's new acquisitions included lands in the Duchy of Cornwall, a warrant for 5000 pounds as a free gift, as well as wine licenses....

***

Barbara's husband, Roger Palmer stayed away... Barbara, also concerned with her estate acquired other properties as gifts from the King and her own business dealings.....

In 1685 the King died a natural death, likely heart failure. The King expressed the desire to become a Catholic on his death bed. James II would follow and William III in 1702. Barbara lived through so many historical changes. In 1705 her husband Roger died. They had been married over forty years. Perhaps surprising to everyone Barbara married again, just months after Roger's death to Robert Fielding, another Catholic.  Fielding pursued her and soon enough began to fleece her. Discovering this she raged and he beat her. She charged him also of bigamy but the verdict was that the marriage was void. He got a pardon from Queen Anne. She was humiliated.

In August 1709, Barbara made her will and died within a few weeks of her sixty-ninth birthday. She had swelled with water (sometimes a symptom of cancer) and had finally lost her looks. 

As I survey the genealogy charts that appear on the Internet beginning with Barbara Villiers, I see that one of her daughters is said to have born at least eighteen children.  These days, I do wonder what DNA testing would prove.  Was her last child Churchill's, the King's? 

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BARBARA VILLIERS PREGNANCY CRISIS : A VOLATILE LADY GETS A KING TO BEG FORGIVENESS BUT HE HAS TAKEN UP WITH OTHER MISTRESSES : MOLL DAVIES, NELL GWYNN, AND LOUISE DE KEROUALLE

Was Barbara Villiers on the way out or King Charles II's favorite? Knowing she was living this controversy, Barbara decided to create a situation in which the King would be tested. The two of them did sometimes have a violent argument and this time, pregnant again, the issue was the paternity of the child she was - yet again - pregnant with. The King was having financial problems, his advisors had less influence on him that she did but he had not slept with Barbara in several months, but she insisted that he accept the child.

Excerpt page 105 from The Illustrious Lady by Elizabeth Hamilton

Somebody had said that the Countess of Castlemaine in one of her rages was less like Medea than one of Medea's dragons...

***

This time, based on the King's behavior and Barbara's, it seemed like they were breaking up for good. She left the Palace and stayed close by until the King came begging for forgiveness. Meanwhile Frances Stuart, who had married and was now Frances, Duchess of Richmond, came back to London with her husband and was rumored to be back as the mistress of the King.  And other women were being introduced to the King as others attempted to distract him and gain influence, among them actress Moll Davies, and actress Nell Gwynn.  He would also have a son by mistress Louise de Keroualle. Rumor had it, also that Barbara had fallen in love with another man.

Excerpt page 117 from The Illustrious Lady by Elizabeth Hamilton

Lady Castle Maine was not 'frightened' by her new rival. As always, she had come to terms with the situation, she accepted the fact that she must share the King's affection and remained calm. She saw to it that in spite of the new threat from the world of the there she still extracted the full measure of reward for the trouble she took in bearing the King's children..... gossamer Moll and Cockney Nell would never usurp the position that the shrewd and discerning Barbara had made for herself in the inner circles of government and power.

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KING CHARLES II ASSURES THAT BARBARA VILLIERS - PALMER WILL NOT BE BANNISHED FROM COURT ONCE HE IS MARRIED BY GIVING HER HUSBAND - AND HER - TITLES : LADY CASTLEMAINE

Be it the Villiers of the Palmers, Barbara's family or her husband's family, they both saw Barbara's relationship with King Charles II as their best advocate with him.  She had a strong hold over the King, and there was a concern that, once married, she would be detached from the Court.

BOOK EXCERPT: pages 41-42 from The Illustrious Lady by Elizabeth Hamilton

... The first step was to see that she was admitted to the ranks of the titled. The King was prepared to cooperate; he was just as anxious as anybody else to make sure that Barbara would have plenty of opportunity to frequent the Court after the arrival of the Queen....

***

The King reminded everyone that they were his servants and requested that Roger Palmer become an Irish Earl as well as the heirs of his (Roger's) body also.

Roger became Baron Limerick and Earl of Castlemaine.

...The long suffering Palmer was himself no longer under any illusions. Although he always regarded Anne as his own child, he know that he had lost his wife, gaining in return the earldom of a distant village in County Kerry, while as a small compensation his half-brother was granted a knighthood and appointment of Cupbearer to the King.... Roger Palmer did not assume his title for some while, knowing too well the price he had paid for it, and, to quote Clarendon, 'the brand of such a nobility'.  Clarendon, for his part, was more determined than ever to block the advancement of the woman he from now on never referred to except, with more than a touch of sarcasm, as 'the Lady'.

***

Barbara got her title because she was now married to the new Earl. At Court there were those who continued to favor Barbara while others awaited the new Queen to favor.

***

The Infanta set out from Lisbon in April 1661 and great preparations and celebrations were planned for her arrival, to make her welcome and comfortable. the now Lady Castlemaine was pregnant again and the King spent his time with her. The Infanta was no great beauty, though she was pretty, and her virtues and looks had been explained to the King.

Excerpt page 46 from The Illustrious Lady by Elizabeth Hamilton

For a while the King 'carried things decently'. He remained at Hampton Court with his wife, and was so kind to her that she showed unmistakable signs of falling for the dark-countenanced man whose language she scarcely understood. Lady Castlemaine was left alone, waiting the birth of her child, and it was impossible for the King to visit her.  ...

***
The child was christened, first in the Catholic faith since Roger was Catholic, as Charles Palmer, Lord Limerick.  Days later another ceremony for the child had him christened in the Anglican faith. This second ceremony had Barbara and her husband, Roger, in a violent argument and she raged. Barbara would become famous for her rages. She left Roger, taking everything she could with her, leaving an empty house. A defeated Roger threaten to move to France and go into a monastery.

***

Missy here.  The Catholic faith and France play an important role in the life of Barbara and her children.  Barbara's husband, who felt sure the first child she gave birth to was his, was a Catholic convert and Barbara would eventually also convert.  This was at a time in history in which the Anglican Church, the official Church of England, had been established by Henry VIII, and so it was controversial to say the least.  It is said that on his deathbed the King also wished to be converted to Catholicism.

*** Clarendon was one of the King's advisors.  Other advisors and observers with opinions are mentioned in Elizabeth Hamilton's book.

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BARBARA VILLIERS - PALMER BECOMES THE ACKNOWLEDGED MISTRESS OF KING CHARLES II : THE KING CONTINUES TO PARTY AND AWAITS CATHERINE OF BRAGANZA, THE PORTUGUESE INFANTA TO WED

1660: King Charles II was restored as King of England. The festivities continued. Barbara and Roger Palmer entertained, while more than one man vied to have her in his bed. Though a decade or so of exile had visibly aged the King, he still had energy and liked a good time - dinners, theater, boat races, tennis. Barbara's family considered her success with the King to be good for their family. The King's marriage to Catholic Catherine of Braganza, the Portuguese Infanta, who would bring 500,000 pounds cash as well as the ownership of important towns for trade in the Caribbean and Mediterranean, was being arranged. The Spanish were against it and the French for it, but in the end the King married the woman who had first been proposed as his bride when she was only six years old. However...

In February 1661, Barbara Villiers- Palmer gave birth to her first child, a daughter, Anne, and some people thought it was her lover who was the father. Roger Palmer, her husband, was happy to acknowledge the child as his. Several months later, Barbara became the acknowledged mistress of King Charles II. Then, a second birth:

Excerpt page 40 from The Illustrious Lady by Elizabeth Hamilton

...There had been rumors as far back as the summer of 166-1 that Mrs. Palmer was with child, and in the new year of 1992 the truth had become all too apparent.  It was also clear that the unfortunate Roger had become a husband only in name. In spite of the fact that negotiations for his marriage had gone ahead, the King showed no signs of overcoming his infatuation. Most people were beginning to accept the fact that his levity was more than a veneer of youthful high spirits, and it was significant that when he was described in a collect for the Parliament as 'our most religious King.' the phrase caused a ripple of amusement.  Clarendon might have gone on hoping, against all the evidence, that the King would in the end extricate himself from his youthful companions and self-indulgent way of life, even if the change of heart was slow in coming.  There was still a last chance that a good wife might be able to work the miracle; one encouraging rumor had it that when his mistress asked him what he expected her to do on the arrival of the Queen, he replied, 'You must stick to your husband as I 8ntend to stick to my wife.'  While the reset of the world waited, fearful or fascinated, to see what effect the arrival of the Portuguese Infanta would have on the King's relationship with Barbara Palmer, Clarendon worked diligently to prevent her from upsurging Catherine's position in advance...

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BARBARA VILLIERS MARRIED ROGER PALMER BUT SMALLPOX HAD EVERTHING TO DO WITH HOW SHE MET KING CHARLES II

In the spring of 1659, Charles II had spent a decade in exile in Brussels, and the Royalists who supported him were working to bring him back to England and power. He and his courtiers were searching for a proper marriage alliance for him and he was not yet married.

Young Barbara Villiers was courted by Royalist Roger Palmer, who had a modest inheritance but was educated at Eton and Cambridge and considered to be of good character and steady. Palmer was excellent choice for a young woman of lesser expectations. In April 1659, when he was twenty-four and she was eighteen, they married in church. Barbara's family was against this marriage because Roger and his family were Catholics. His father was also against the marriage. He had warned Roger that Barbara would not be faithful to him. His father was right. She continued to love and be the lover of the man who had first stolen her heart. But soon that man would flee to France and she would be sent to Brussels.

She had become ill with smallpox.  Luckily she survived it and without the disfigurement that often resulted. It was understood that a survivor of smallpox had immunity.

Excerpts Pages 23 -24 from The Illustrious Lady by Elizabeth Hamilton

The King's Court was now at Brussels, and in the spring of 1660 there was a virulent outbreak of smallpox in Flanders, so that it was important to choose messengers from England who had already had the disease.  But it was becoming increasingly difficult to find Royalists who were free to ross the Channel, for many of them were working hard for the Kings cause (to return to England) and others, like Roger Palmer, had immersed themselves in the forthcoming elections in the hope of achieving a Parliament loyal to the Crown....

...The trusting Roger may have appreciated the advantages of sending a member of the family to the exiled Court, but in spite of all the warnings he had been given he apparently failed to foresee just how much success his wife was likely to achieve.  Nothing definite is known about the steps that were taken to convey Barbara Palmer to the Continent, or what were the real reasons for the decision, but it is generally agreed that she did visit the King, and that he succumbed to her charms without undue delay  He was by now something of a connoisseur of female beauty. He had been credited with sixteen mistress, an estimate which he himself modestly disclaimed, although flattered that he was thought capable of such a total.  Nobody disputed the fact that Barbara was beautiful, and it was equally certain that she was no longer innocent, for she had been schooled int he world of royalist society where nobody thought too much about the future of worried themselves unduly about the consequences of their own actions.

... King or not, Charles II was attractive enough to conquer a woman in his own right.  Tall and very dark, with an amenable disposition and humorous outlook on life, he seemed to possess an unlimited capacity for enjoyment....

***

The King had several known mistresses, short relationships if they were that, and only Lucy Walter, who had a son with the King, refused to be sent away.  In the summer of 1659 King Charles II did return to England. Roger Palmer had the King's favor, for he had made loans to the King, and had returned to Parliament. It was necessary that he live nearby - for now.

Excerpt page 27

...The route from Canterbury had been lined with people and strewn with flowers, 'like one continues street wonderfully inhabited'. As the King rose over London Bridge, bare heard, church bells rang, trumpets sounded and there was music, publicly played for the first time for years. The enthusiasm of the crowed was likened to the joy of emancipated slaves. It seemed as if the age of austerity was over; the streets were hung with tapestry, the fountains ran with wine....

***

It is said that Barbara lost no time in bedding the King.

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BARBARA VILLIERS - PALMER : 1ST COUNTESS OF CASTLEMAINE and DUCHESS OF CLEVELAND : THE UNCROWNED QUEEN OF ENGLISH KING CHARLES II : 1660-1670 : FIVE CHILDREN WITH THE KING

BARBARA VILLIERS - COUNTESS OF CASTLEMAINE and DUCHESS OF CLEVELAND 

1640 - 1709

This month I've elected Barbara Villiers to our list of Royal Mistresses. Barbara, who lived in 17th century England, had many admirers in her lifetime and she was apparently aware of her beauty as a young enchantress and suffered the reputation of being a 'whore.' She became, significantly, the favorite of King Charles II for a decade or more, and for a time had such influence over him that she was called 'The Uncrowned Queen" or, said, with some sarcasm, "The Lady." Not married at the time that he began his relationship with Barbara, the King did marry Catherine of Braganza, of Portugal. The pretty but dull new Queen, who brought significant wealth and political alliances with her, tried to turn her arranged marriage into a true love match but failed.. He married her about the same time that Barbara was in advanced pregnancy with her second child, with unchallenged paternity by the King. But then, Barbara likely had an involvement before her marriage. In fact, she might have become the mistress of the King before she was married.

Born in 1640, about the time that the English Civil War, Barbara Villiers' noble family, who made their fortune in sheep, became impoverished because of it. Her family had been ennobled and associated with King Charles I before she was born. They were Royalists and it would take some time for the King Charles II to regain power. By the time she was of marriageable age, Barbara had few good marriage prospects and was just one more young Royalist woman, pretty but penniless, who liked to party and had a light hearted attitude towards life. Her first love, a young widower, an Earl, dumped her to marry a rich woman and so it went. But then she did marry, at the age of 19, to Roger Palmer, a Catholic who her family didn't approve of. What could her husband do about her involvement with the King? Not much. So began her career as an important mistress of the King and mother.

The King was savvy. He made Barbara Villiers - Palmer's husband Baron Limerick the Earl of Castlemaine in 1661, thus giving Barbara Palmer the title of 1st Countess of Castlemaine. After she gave birth to a son by the King, Barbara and Roger officially separated but stayed married. All five of the children she had by the King in their decade of relationship would be assumed - by some - to be her husband's offspring. (To this day there is some dispute over it.) The titles would have to be passed down only to Roger's heirs ; Barbara's  relationship with the King and these children were not so secret, for the three middle children were also given the name FitzRoy, meaning Illegitimate Royal offspring. In this way, however, Roger Palmer could save face if he needed to and the children would have the financial support needed to raise them. The titles were for Ireland and it was there that Palmer would need to go. Roger Palmer was never known to have a child and, frankly, I do wonder if he knew he was being married to Barbara for practical reasons all along.

She gave birth to Anne in 1661, Charles in 1662, Henry in 1663, George in 1665, and Barbara in 1672. Barbara is the child who there is the strongest suggestion of having yet another birth father. But Barbara, in a volatile argument with the King, demanded that he recognize and support this child too.

What was true?  First that more than one man claimed children with her, suggesting that Barbara had many paramours over the years, men in love enough with her to state that a child she gave birth to was theirs, meaning they would want to support that child and see him or her as an heir.

All these hundreds of years later, her descendants include some prominent British people you have heard of ***; Princess Diana and her children, Prince William and Prince Harry through her son, Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton and Sarah Ferguson, until recently the Duchess of York, through Barbara's daughter, Lady Anne Palmer, later FitzRoy.  (Lady Anne became the Duchess of Sussex!)

The King took other mistresses through the years and is said to have had twelve children, maybe fourteen, with all of them. His wife, the Queen, had three miscarriages and never did give him an heir.

*** This genealogy information culled from Wikipedia.

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