Mary Capel, Countess of Essex

Mary Capel, Countess of Essex (1679 – 20 August 1726), born Lady Mary Bentinck, was the daughter of William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland, a Dutch and English nobleman who became in an early stage the favourite of stadtholder William, Prince of Orange (the future King of England) and his wife Anne Villiers (d. 30 November 1688).

Mary is one of the Hampton Court Beauties who was painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller for Queen Mary II. Despite sharing a surname, Mary's aunt, Barbara Villiers, Viscountess FitzHarding was not the renowned courtesan and Windsor Beauty the Duchess of Cleveland, although there is a relation; the Duchess of Cleveland was Mary's first cousin once removed through her mother, Anne Villiers. Never the less Barbara Villiers was painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller.[2]

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Family

Lady Mary's paternal grandparents were Sir Edward Villiers and Lady Frances Howard, daughter of the 2nd Earl of Suffolk and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Home (d. 19 August 1633), daughter of the 1st Earl of Dunbar. Through her grandfather, Sir Edward Villiers, she descended from Sir Oliver St. John and Margaret Beauchamp, mother to Lady Margaret Beaufort. Lady Mary's maternal grandparents were Bernard Bentinck, 6th Baron Bentinck of the Netherlands (d. 29 July 1668), a descendent from an ancient and noble family of Guelders and Overijssel, and his wife Anne van Bloemendale (d. 30 March 1685).[3]

Marriages

Lady Mary married twice.

On 28 February 1698, she married Lt.-Gen. Algernon Capel (1670–1710), 2nd Earl of Essex. The couple had three children.[4]

1st: Lady Jane Hyde (d. January 1723/24), daughter of the 4th Earl of Clarendon. The marriage produced two daughters.
2nd: Lady Elizabeth Russell (d. 8 June 1784), daughter of the 2nd Duke of Bedford. Their son, William, became the 4th Earl of Essex.

On 2 August 1714, she married Rt. Hon. Sir Conyers Darcy (died 1758), son of Hon. John Darcy (1659–1688) and Bridget Sutton.[5] The marriage was childless.

Titles

Ancestry

References

  1. ^ Field, p. ix.
  2. ^ Crofts Peerage - Villiers, Dukes of Buckingham
  3. ^ Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 1348.
  4. ^ Crofts Peerage, Earls of Essex
  5. ^ Crofts Peerage, Earl of Holderness

External links