Elizabeth Killigrew, Viscountess Shannon (16 May 1622 (baptised) – December 1680) was an English

courtier A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the official ...

. She was a daughter of Sir Robert Killigrew and Mary Woodhouse, and sister of dramatist

Thomas Killigrew Thomas Killigrew (7 February 1612 – 19 March 1683) was an English dramatist and theatre manager. He was a witty, dissolute figure at the court of King Charles II of England. Life Killigrew was one of twelve children of Sir Robert Killigrew ...

. Elizabeth was baptised at

St Margaret Lothbury St Margaret Lothbury is a Church of England parish church on Lothbury in the City of London; it spans the boundary between Coleman Street Ward and Broad Street Ward. Recorded since the 12th century, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. On 24 October 1639 she married Francis Boyle (later Viscount Shannon), son of the Irish landowner

Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork (13 October 1566 – 15 September 1643), also known as the Great Earl of Cork, was an English politician who served as Lord Treasurer of the Kingdom of Ireland. Lord Cork was an important figure in the continuing ...

. He was a friend of her stepfather,

Thomas Stafford (MP) Sir Thomas Stafford ( – 1655) was an English courtier, politician, and historian of the Irish Wars. He sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1593 and 1625. Stafford was the illegitimate son of Sir George Carew. In 1593, he was ...

. As the couple was young, there was discussion whether they should live together, or Francis Boyle depart on a Grand Tour first. Elizabeth joined the royalist court-in-exile of Queen

Henrietta Maria Henrietta Maria (french: link=no, Henriette Marie; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland from her marriage to King Charles I on 13 June 1625 until Charles was executed on 30 January 1649. She was ...

as a

maid of honour A maid of honour is a junior attendant of a queen in royal households. The position was and is junior to the lady-in-waiting. The equivalent title and office has historically been used in most European royal courts. Role Traditionally, a queen ...

– where she became one of the many mistresses of the queen's son, the future King Charles II.Hilliam, David (2000). ''Monarchs, Murders and Mistresses''.

Sutton Publishing The History Press is a British publishing company specialising in the publication of titles devoted to local and specialist history. It claims to be the United Kingdom's largest independent publisher in this field, publishing approximately 300 ...

. p. 239. Her daughter

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 ...

was fathered by the exiled Prince Charles. In 1660, the year Charles was restored to the throne as Charles II, Elizabeth Killigrew's husband was raised to the

Irish peerage The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five di ...

as Viscount Shannon. Her daughter

married firstly the playwright James Howard and in 1672 remarried William Paston, son of the

Earl of Yarmouth Earl of Yarmouth is a title that has been created three times in British history, once in the Peerage of England and twice in the Peerage of Great Britain. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1679 in favour of the politician and ...

. Poet

Anne Killigrew Anne Killigrew (1660–1685) was an English poet and painter, described by contemporaries as "A Grace for beauty, and a Muse for wit." Born in London, she and her family were active in literary and court circles. Killigrew's poems were ci ...

was Elizabeth's niece; among her relatives Lady Shannon also numbered the politicians and playwrights Sir William Killigrew (her brother) and Roger Boyle, Earl of Orrery (a brother-in-law),

Robert Boyle Robert Boyle (; 25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders ...

, the physicist, and

Katherine Jones, Viscountess Ranelagh Katherine Jones, Viscountess Ranelagh (22 March 1615 – 3 December 1691), also known as Lady Ranelagh, was an Anglo-Irish scientist in seventeenth-century Britain. She was also a political and religious philosopher, and a member of many intel ...

(the latter two siblings-in-law).

References

1622 births 1680 deaths Elizabeth British maids of honour Mistresses of Charles II of England People from the City of London Place of birth missing Place of death missing Date of birth unknown Date of death missing Irish viscountesses Elizabeth 17th-century English women 17th-century English people {{Ireland-viscount-stub