Mary Bagot, Countess of Falmouth and Dorset, ca. 1664-65, by Sir Peter Lely Mary, Countess of Falmouth and Dorset (1645 – 1679) was a British courtier and mistress of King Charles II. The King rewarded her with grants of land, including Somerset House, in the Strand, and a state pension. She was one of the

Windsor Beauties The Windsor Beauties are a set of portrait paintings, still in the Royal Collection, by Sir Peter Lely and his workshop, produced in the early to mid-1660s, that depict ladies of the court of King Charles II, some of whom were his mistresses. ...

painted by Sir Peter Lely. Her portrait by Lely was erroneously named "Elizabeth, Countess of Falmouth" and also as "Countess of Ossory" in some portrait prints and books in the 18th and 19th centuries, many of which were later reprinted, compounding the error.

Family

Her parents were Colonel Henry Bagot and his wife Dorothea Arden, of Pipe Hall, Warwickshire. She married firstly Charles Berkeley, 1st Earl of Falmouth in 1663. He died at the

Battle of Lowestoft The Battle of Lowestoft took place on during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. A fleet of more than a hundred ships of the United Provinces commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Jacob van Wassenaer, Lord Obdam attacked an English fleet of equal size comm ...

in 1665. She married secondly

Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset and 1st Earl of Middlesex, KG (24 January 164329 January 1706) was an English poet and courtier. Early life Sackville was born on 24 January 1643, son of Richard Sackville, 5th Earl of Dorset (1622–1677) ...

in June 1674 (his first marriage). Mary died on 12 September 1679.

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"Elizabeth Bagot, Countess of Falmouth & Dorset"
(1832) ''NYPL''
"Mary Bagot, Countess of Falmouth and Dorset"
(1645–79), c.1664-5, Sir Peter Lely {{DEFAULTSORT:Falmouth, Mary, Countess of English countesses 1645 births 1679 deaths Women of the Stuart period 17th-century English landowners 17th-century women landowners