General Notes

REFN: 9060AN
George Villiers (August 28, 1592 – August 23, 1628) was the 1st Duke of Bu
ckingham of the second creation (1623) of that title and a favourite of Ki
ng James I of England and then of Charles I.
He was born in Brooksby, Leicestershire, the son of the minor noble Sir Ge
orge Villiers. As a youth he was noted for his beauty and he became a regu
lar at the royal court in 1614 following his introduction to James duri
ng the King's progress of that year. Villiers gained support from those op
posed to the current favourite, Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset and he was k
nighted in 1615 as a Gentleman of the Bedchamber. When Carr was disgrac
ed after the Overbury affair his position was rapidly taken by Villiers, a
lthough the king's passion for Villiers had been obvious for some time bef
ore. He prospered greatly under the king, becoming an earl in 1617 and mar
quess in 1618.
He married the daughter of Francis Manners, 6th Earl of Rutland, Katheri
ne Manners, later suo jure Baroness De Ros, on May 16, 1620 despite the ob
jections of her father. Villiers was happy to grant valuable royal monopol
ies to her family. Parliament began an investigation into misuse of the mo
nopolies in 1621 and Villiers was quick to siDe with Parliament to avoid a
ction being taken against him.
In February 1623 James made Villiers the Duke of Buckingham. Buckingham ac
companied Prince Charles to Spain for marriage negotiations regarding t
he Infanta Maria. The negotiations had long been stuck but it is believ
ed that Buckingham's crassness was key to the total collapse of agreemen
t; the Spanish ambassador asked Parliament to have Buckingham executed f
or his behaviour in Madrid; but Buckingham gained popularity by calling f
or war with Spain on his return. He headed further marriage negotiations b
ut when in 1624 the betrothal to Henrietta Maria of France was announced t
he choice of a Catholic was widely condemned.
Buckingham's popularity suffered further when he was blamed for the failu
re of the von Mansfeld expedition to recover the Palatinate (1625). But wh
en Charles became king Buckingham was the only man to maintain his positi
on from the court of James. When Parliament attempted to impeach him for t
he failure of the Cádiz expedition (1625) Charles had the house dissolv
ed in August before they could put Buckingham on trial.
In 1627 Buckingham then led another failure to try to aid the Huguenots be
sieged at La Rochelle, losing over 4000 men out of a force of 7000. Whi
le organising a second attempt he was killed at Portsmouth by John Felto
n, a naval officer who held a personal grudge against him. Felton was hang
ed in November and Buckingham was buried in Westminster Abbey.
A fictionalized Buckingham is one of the characters in Alexander Dumas' T
he Three Musketeers, which paints him as a lover of Anne of Austria and de
als with his assassination by Felton. He is also a central charact
er in a novel by Philippa Gregory, Earthly Joys.