Charlotte Lee, Countess of Lichfield (5 September 1664 – 17 February 1718), formerly Lady Charlotte Fitzroy, was the
illegitimate
Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as '' ...
daughter of
King Charles II of England
Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685.
Charles II was the eldest surviving child of ...
by one of his best known
mistresses,
Barbara Villiers, 1st Duchess of Cleveland
Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland, Countess of Castlemaine (née Barbara Villiers, – 9 October 1709), was an English royal mistress of the Villiers family and perhaps the most notorious of the many mistresses of King Charles II of Eng ...
. Known for her beauty, Charlotte was married at age 12 to her husband,
Edward Henry Lee, 1st Earl of Lichfield, with whom she had a large family.
Early life
Charlotte Lee was born Charlotte Fitzroy, on 5 September 1664,
[Andrews, p.216] the fourth child and second daughter of
Barbara Palmer, Countess of Castlemaine, the only child of the Royalist commander
William Villiers, 2nd Viscount Grandison. She was placed in the care of a governess in
Berkshire House.
Charlotte Fitzroy's mother had separated from her husband
Roger Palmer, 1st Earl of Castlemaine
Roger Palmer, 1st Earl of Castlemaine, PC (1634–1705) was an English courtier, diplomat, and briefly a member of parliament, sitting in the House of Commons of England for part of 1660. He was also a noted Roman Catholic writer. His wife Barb ...
, but was still married to him. Castlemaine did not father any of his wife's children; Charlotte and her siblings were the illegitimate offspring of their mother's royal lover,
Charles II. The king acknowledged his daughter and so she bore the surname of
Fitzroy – "child of the King".
The diarist
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...
noted that the child would likely have good marriage prospects: "my Lady Castlemayne
arbara Villierswill in merriment say that her daughter (not above a year old or two) will be the first mayde in the Court that will be married…"
Charlotte was the favourite niece of
James, Duke of York
James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious ...
, younger brother of
Charles II, who would later reign as King James II. The historian
John Heneage Jesse
John Heneage Jesse (1809 – 7 July 1874), English historian, son of Edward Jesse, was educated at Eton and became a clerk in the secretary's department of the Admiralty.
His poem on Mary, Queen of Scots was published about 1831, and was ...
wrote of Charlotte Fitzroy: "we know but little of her except that she was beautiful." As a child, Charlotte was painted by the court painter Sir
Peter Lely
Sir Peter Lely (14 September 1618 – 7 December 1680) was a painter of Dutch origin whose career was nearly all spent in England, where he became the dominant portrait painter to the court.
Life
Lely was born Pieter van der Faes to Dutch ...
, Charles II's
Principal Painter in Ordinary
The title of Principal Painter in Ordinary to the King or Queen of England or, later, Great Britain, was awarded to a number of artists, nearly all mainly portraitists. It was different from the role of Serjeant Painter, and similar to the earlie ...
, in which she is seated with her Indian page, holding a bunch of grapes and dressed in pink silk. Today, the painting hangs in the
York Art Gallery
York Art Gallery is a public art gallery in York, England, with a collection of paintings from 14th-century to contemporary, prints, watercolours, drawings, and ceramics. It closed for major redevelopment in 2013, reopening in summer of 2015. T ...
.
The art historian
Anna Brownell Jameson
Anna Brownell Jameson (17 May 179417 March 1860) was an Anglo-Irish art historian. Born in Ireland, she migrated to England at the age of four, becoming a well-known British writer and contributor to nineteenth-century thought on a range of sub ...
described Charlotte Fitzroy as having "rivaled her mother in beauty, but was far unlike her in every other respect."
It appears that Charles II was a loving father. In 1682 he wrote to Charlotte: "I must tell you I am glad to hear you are with child, and I hope to see you here before it be long, that I may have the satisfaction myself of telling you how much I love you, and how truly I am your kind father, Charles Rex".
Marriage and children
On 16 May 1674, before her tenth birthday, Lady Charlotte was contracted to marry
Sir Edward Lee, and they were married on 6 February 1677, in her thirteenth year. When
Charles Stewart, 6th Duke of Lennox
Charles Stewart, 3rd Duke of Richmond, 6th Duke of Lennox KG (7 March 1639December 1672) of Cobham Hall in Kent and of Richmond House in Whitehall, London, 11th Seigneur d'Aubigny in France, was an English nobleman of Franco-Scottish ancestry ...
, died in 1673, Sir Edward was created
Earl of Lichfield
Earl of Lichfield is a title that has been created three times, twice in the Peerage of England (1645 and 1674) and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom (1831). The third creation is extant and is held by a member of the Anson family.
Hi ...
. Charlotte's dowry was agreed at £18,000, and her husband was awarded a pension of £2,000 per year.
Together they had eighteen children:
*
Charlotte Lee, Lady Baltimore
Charlotte Lee, Lady Baltimore (23 March 1678 , (13 March 1678 OS) – 1 February 1721, (22 January 1721 OS), was an English noblewoman, and granddaughter of King Charles II of England and his mistress Barbara Villiers. She married in 1699, Bened ...
(13 March 1678 (Old Style) – 22 January 1721),
** (1)
Benedict Calvert, 4th Baron Baltimore
Benedict Leonard Calvert, 4th Baron Baltimore (21 March 1679 – 16 April 1715) was an English nobleman and politician. He was the second son of Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore (1637–1715) by Jane Lowe, and became his father's heir upon ...
, by whom she had six children.
** (2) Christopher Crowe, Consul of Leghorn, by whom she had four children.
* Charles Lee, Viscount Quarendon (6 May 1680 – 13 October 1680).
* Edward Henry Lee, Viscount Quarendon (6 June 1681 – 21 October 1713).
* Captain Hon. James Lee (13 November 1681 – 1711).
* The Hon. Francis Lee (14 February 1685 – died young).
* Lady Anne Lee (29 June 1686 – d. 1716?), married N Morgan.
* The Hon. Charles Lee (5 June 1688 – 3 January 1708).
*
George Henry Lee, 2nd Earl of Lichfield (12 March 1690 – 15 February 1743).
* The Hon. Francis Henry Fitzroy Lee (10 September 1692 – died young).
* Lady Elizabeth Lee (26 May 1693 – 29 January 1739). Married:
** (1) Francis Lee, a cousin. Had one son and two daughters, the eldest of whom, Elisabeth (d. 1736 at
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...
) married Henry Temple, son of the
1st Viscount Palmerston.
** (2)
Edward Young
Edward Young (c. 3 July 1683 – 5 April 1765) was an English poet, best remembered for ''Night-Thoughts'', a series of philosophical writings in blank verse, reflecting his state of mind following several bereavements. It was one of the mo ...
, in 1731, author of the ''
Night Thoughts
''The Complaint: or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality'', better known simply as ''Night-Thoughts'', is a long poem by Edward Young published in nine parts (or "nights") between 1742 and 1745. It was illustrated with notable engrav ...
'', by whom she had one son. It is said that he never recovered from Elizabeth's death.
* Lady Barbara Lee (3 March 1695 – d. aft. 1729), married Sir George Browne, 3rd Baronet of Kiddington.
* Lady Mary Isabella Lee (6 September 1697 – 28 December 1697).
* The Hon. Fitzroy Lee (10 May 1698 – died young).
* Vice Admiral Hon.
FitzRoy Henry Lee (2 January 1700 – April 1751), Commodore Governor of Newfoundland.
* The Hon. William Lee (24 June 1701 – died young).
* The Hon. Thomas Lee (25 August 1703 – died young).
* The Hon. John Lee (3 December 1704 – died young).
*
Robert Lee, 4th Earl of Lichfield
Robert Lee, 4th Earl of Lichfield (1706–1776) was an English politician and peer, the last of the Earls of Lichfield.
Birth and origins
Robert was born on 3 July 1706 in St. James Street, Westminster, London. He was one of the ten ch ...
(3 July 1706 – 3 November 1776).
Ancestry
Death and legacy
Charlotte Lee died on 17 February 1718, aged 53, and was buried in All Saints Churchyard in
Spelsbury
Spelsbury is a village and civil parish about north of Charlbury and about southeast of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. The village is on a narrow hill between the Coldron and Taston brooks overlooking the River Evenlode and the ancient Wychwo ...
, Oxfordshire, England. <
A building was constructed right next to her house that would eventually be known as
10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Along w ...
.
References
*
*
*
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lichfield, Charlotte Lee, Countess of
1664 births
1718 deaths
17th-century English people
18th-century English people
17th-century English women
18th-century English women
Charlotte
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
English countesses
Daughters of British dukes
Illegitimate children of Charles II of England
Daughters of kings