Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness

Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness, 1775, by Sir Joshua Reynolds

Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness (17 May 1718 – 16 May 1778), known before 1721 as Lord Darcy and Conyers, was a British diplomatist and politician. From 1744 to 1746 he was ambassador at Venice and from 1749 to 1751 he represented his country at The Hague. In 1751 he became Secretary of State for the Southern Department, transferring in 1754 to the Northern Department, and he remained in office until March 1761, when he was dismissed by King George III in favor of Lord Bute, although he had largely been a cipher in that position to the stronger personalities of his colleagues, successively the Duke of Newcastle, Thomas Robinson, Henry Fox, and William Pitt the Elder. From 1771 to 1776 he acted as governor to two of the King's sons, a solemn phantom as Horace Walpole calls him. He left no sons, and all his titles became extinct except the Baronies of Darcy (de Knayth) and Conyers, which were Baronies by Writ. In those peerages he was succeeded by his daughter, Amelia Osborne, Marchioness of Carmarthen.

Political offices
Preceded by The Duke of Bedford	Secretary of State for the Southern Department 1751–1754	Succeeded by Thomas Robinson
Preceded by The Duke of Newcastle	Secretary of State for the Northern Department 1754–1761	Succeeded by The Earl of Bute
Preceded by William Pitt	Secretary of State for the Southern Department 1757	Succeeded by William Pitt
Honorary Titles
Preceded by The Duke of Dorset	Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports 1765–1778	Succeeded by The Lord North
Peerage of England
Preceded by Robert Darcy	Baron Conyers 1722–1778	Succeeded by Amelia Osborne
	Baron Darcy de Knayth 1722–1778	Succeeded by Amelia Osborne
	Earl of Holderness 1722–1778	Succeeded by Extinct
Titles of Nobility
Preceded by Frederica Darcy	Count of Mértola 1751–1778	Succeeded by Amelia Osborne