Nicholas Tufton, 3rd Earl of Thanet (7 August 1631 – 24 November 1679), styled Lord Tufton until 1664, was an English nobleman. Tufton was the eldest son of John Tufton, 2nd Earl of Thanet, and Lady Margaret, daughter of Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset and

Lady Anne Clifford Lady Anne Clifford, Countess of Dorset, Pembroke and Montgomery, ''suo jure'' 14th Baroness de Clifford (30 January 1590 – 22 March 1676) was an English peeress. In 1605 she inherited her father's ancient barony by writ and became ''suo jure'' ...

. Through his father, he was a great-great-grandson of

Lord Burghley William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (13 September 15204 August 1598) was an English statesman, the chief adviser of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State (1550–1553 and 1558–1572) and Lord High Treasurer from 1 ...

. He was imprisoned in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sepa ...

in 1655 and again from 1656 to 1658, for allegedly conspiring to capture Charles II. In 1664 he succeeded his father in the earldom. He successfully claimed the barony of de Clifford through his maternal grandmother

(which had been in abeyance since the death of his great-grandfather George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland). This barony conferred the honour of hereditary High Sheriff of Westmorland. Lord Thanet married Lady Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Boyle, 2nd Earl of Cork, on 11 April 1664. They had no children. He died in November 1679, aged 48, and was succeeded in the earldom by his younger brother, John. The Countess of Thanet died in September 1725.

References

, - 1631 births 1679 deaths 17th-century English nobility High Sheriffs of Westmorland Earls of Thanet Barons de Clifford Prisoners in the Tower of London Prisoners and detainees of England and Wales {{England-earl-stub