Charles Stewart, 3rd Duke of Richmond

Charles Stewart, 3rd Duke of Richmond, 6th Duke of Lennox (7 March 1639 – December 1672), KG, of Cobham Hall in Kent and of Richmond House in Whitehall, London, 12th Seigneur d'Aubigny in France, was an English nobleman of Franco-Scottish ancestry and a 4th cousin of King Charles II of England, both being descended in the male line from John Stewart, 3rd Earl of Lennox.[1]

Charles Stewart, 3rd Duke of Richmond and 6th Duke of Lennox by Sir Peter Lely.
Coat of arms of Charles Stewart, 3rd Duke of Richmond, 6th Duke of Lennox, KG

Origins

He was the only son and heir of George Stewart, 9th Seigneur d'Aubigny by his wife Katherine Howard, a daughter of Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk. He was a grandson of Esmé Stewart, 3rd Duke of Lennox.

Career

On 10 December 1645 he was created Baron Stuart of Newbury, Berkshire, and Earl of Lichfield, titles conferred on him "to perpetuate the titles which were intended to have been conferred on his uncle" Lord Bernard Stewart, youngest son of the Duke of Lennox, who had been killed in the Battle of Rowton Heath in the English Civil War in September of that year.[2]

In January 1658, Charles Stewart went into exile in France, and took up his residence in the house of his uncle, Ludovic Stewart, seigneur d'Aubigny. In the following year he fell under the displeasure of The Protectorate's Council of State, and warrants were issued for seizing his person and goods.[3]

He returned to England with King Charles II in 1660, on the Restoration of the Monarchy and sat in the Convention Parliament, showing great animosity towards the supporters of the Commonwealth.[3] On the death of his 10-year-old cousin Esmé Stewart on 10 August 1660, He succeeded as 3rd Duke of Richmond and 6th Duke of Lennox.[2] In that same year he was created Hereditary Great Chamberlain of Scotland, Hereditary Great Admiral of Scotland, and Lord-Lieutenant of Dorset. On 15 April 1661 he was invested with the Order of the Garter.[3]

Circa 1660 he built Richmond House on the site of the bowling green of Henry VIII's Palace of White Hall.[4]

On the death of his uncle, Ludovic Stuart, he succeeded him as 12th Seigneur D'Aubigny, for which title he did homage by proxy to King Louis XIV of France on 11 May 1670. In July 1667, on the death of his cousin, Mary Butler, countess of Arran, he became Baron Clifton, and on 4 May 1668 he was made Lord Lieutenant and Vice Admiral of Kent, jointly with the Earl of Winchilsea.[3]

Marriages

Charles Stewart married three times, but had no children:

  • Firstly, after June 1659, to Elizabeth Rogers;
  • Secondly, on 31 March 1662, to Margaret Banaster, widow of William Lewis (died 1661);
  • Thirdly, in March 1667, to Frances Teresa Stewart (1647-1702), granddaughter of Walter Stewart, 1st Lord Blantyre, known at court as "Le Belle Stuart"[5] who had been desired by Richmond's cousin, King Charles II, as a mistress.

Death

In 1671 he was sent as ambassador to the Danish court to persuade Denmark to join England and France in a projected attack on the Dutch. Whilst there at Elsinore[2][3] in 1672 he died by drowning, aged 33 and was buried on 20 September 1673 in Westminster Abbey. As he died without issue his titles became extinct, with the exception of that of Baron Clifton, which passed with most of his property to his sister Katherine, Lady O'Brien. His wife, however, had been granted the Lennox estates for life.[6] In 1675 the titles Duke of Richmond, Duke of Lennox and Earl of March, were resurrected for Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond and Lennox, the illegitimate son of King Charles II by his mistress Louise de Kérouaille.

See also
Honorary titles
Interregnum Lord Lieutenant of Dorset
1660–1672		 Succeeded by
The Lord Ashley
Preceded by
The Earl of Winchilsea
The Earl of Southampton		 Lord Lieutenant of Kent
1668–1672		 Succeeded by
The Earl of Winchilsea
Vacant
Title last held by
Sir Thomas Walsingham		 Vice-Admiral of Kent
1668–1672
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by
Esmé Stewart		 Duke of Lennox
1660–1672		 Extinct
Peerage of England
Preceded by
Esmé Stewart		 Duke of Richmond
1660–1672		 Extinct
Preceded by
New creation		 Earl of Lichfield
1645–1672		 Extinct
Preceded by
Mary Butler		 Baron Clifton
1668–1672		 Succeeded by
Katherine O'Brien

Notes
  1. John Stewart, 3rd Earl of Lennox was the paternal grandfather of Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, father of King James I of England, grandfather of King Charles II
  2. Money 1881, pp. 187–188
  3. Dictionary of National Biography, p. 73
  4. "Richmond Terrace and House". UK Parliament. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  5. McNeill, Ronald John (1911). "Richmond, Earls and Dukes of" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 306.
  6. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lennox" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 420.

References


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