Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond and Lennox

Charles was the son of King Charles II and Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth. He was born on 29 July 1672, a swift 10 months after his mother was installed as the king’s chief mistress.

A head start in the peerage

Unlike his half-brothers, Charles didn’t need to wait long for either a surname or a title. At just three years old, he was elevated  to the peerage He was given the English titles of Duke of Richmond, Earl of March and Baron of Settrington on 9 August 1675 and, the following month, the Scottish titles of Duke of Lennox, Earl of Darnley, and Lord of Torboulton (though he had the titles, the Scottish lands were still held by Frances Stuart, dowager duchess of Richmond, after her husband’s death, and Lennox would have to wait to inherit them.) But his titles didn’t stop there. Louis XIV stipulated that the duchy of Aubigny in France that had been granted to his mother for her services to France would be inherited by her son on her death (rather than reverting back to the crown). To accompany his peerages, he was also granted Richmond Castle in York.

As he grew older, Richmond’s mother worked constantly for his interests, securing him estates and appointments beyond that of his brothers. On 18 April 1681 he was created a Knight of the Garter; later that year he was named governor of Dumbarton Castle, as well being given the freedom of the borough in the town of Portsmouth. His benefits also came at the expense of others: on 22 January 1682, after his half-brother James Duke of Monmouth was stripped of his offices because of his involvement in the Rye House Plot, Richmond took his place as Master of the Horse – a  most prestigious position. However, he did not perform any of the corresponding duties himself, given that he was only ten at the time, and two commissioners were employed to carry out the work.

As well as the income from these appointments and lands, Charles II also granted Richmond an annuity of £2,000 and the right to royalties on coal duties, which were retained by the Richmond family for 90 years.

Once he had reached adolescence, Richmond spent more time with his father, and took on some official duties, along with those of his half-brothers who lived at Whitehall. Dinners held by the mistresses for ambassadors or foreign diplomatic visits were usually attended by several of the king’s children. In 1684, John Evelyn described the young Duke, along with his half-brothers Northumberland and St Albans, accompanying Charles II for the Easter service at church. Richmond and St Albans, Evelyn wrote, were “very pretty boys, and seeme to have more Witt than most of the rest.”

Security across the water

Sensing the turning tides in England the Duchess of Portsmouth had been clever enough to implore Louis XIV to establish her son as a naturalised subject of France. The official patent was registered on 22 January 1685, and just fifteen days later, Charles II died. 

Despite Charles’ request to his brother to look after Louise and her son after his death, James II, who hated the Duchess of Portsmouth, stripped Richmond of his office as Master of the Horse on the grounds that the position could not be fulfilled by a deputy. With little support at court and a nation who despised her, Portsmouth quickly decided to leave England and took her son to France in August 1685, where they would both, as French subjects and with a duchy in Aubigny waiting for them, be safe.

While in France, Richmond was presented to Louis XIV and was well received at court. Later that year he formally professed himself a Catholic during a mass in the presence of the French king who was also attending. Pleased with Richmond’s conversion, Louis XIV increased Portsmouth’s pension to 20,000 livres, which she channelled directly to her son.

Religion and Politics

Richmond was not a steadfast individual and tended to change his religious beliefs and political alliances to suit his own interests and ambitions.

Richmond stayed in France for about a year but having little opportunities to begin a career at the French court, he returned to England looking for appointments under James II by 1687, but the king was reluctant to give him any of the military placements he desired, and the young duke was left frustrated.

After the Glorious Revolution of 1688, in which James II was displaced by the protestant William of Orange, Richmond once again returned to France, and declared for James. He attempted to use his religion and alliance to begin a military career, but he was told that he was too young and small to join; he was sixteen years old, but it was not unusual for boys of this age or even younger, especially those born into royalty, to serve in the royal forces. However in 1689 he managed to take up a voluntary role in the campaign against the Dutch attack on Valcours; the year after, he served as the aide-de-camp to the Duc d’Orleans. In recognition of these roles, Louis XIV gave him a company in the Royal Horse Regiment. 

This, Richmond decided, was now not enough for him; in 1692 he secretly left the French court, travelling to England via Switzerland and Germany so as not to get caught. He left, he wrote to a friend, because he was going in search of what he deserved: a higher rank, greater respect, and more personal revenue. He may also have stolen his mother’s jewels to fund his trip. In retaliation, Louis reduced the family pension to 12,000 livres and it reverted to the Duchess of Portsmouth, cutting Richmond off from French support. Portsmouth was astounded that her son would do something so foolish, and their relationship became strained from this point on.

As soon as he was back in England, Richmond converted back to the Church of England, made peace with William III and pledged allegiance to him. For the remainder of William’s reign, Richmond served as the aide-de-camp in Flanders. Though he got what he wanted from King William, in true turn-coat form, he was suspected of complicity in Jacobite plans in 1696. Though this was not proven, it is possible that he was still a Catholic at heart and wanted a Catholic king back on the throne.

Throughout the reigns of Queen Anne and George I, his politics continued to change according to circumstances. During George I’s reign, he was made a lord of the bedchamber.

Change in fortune

Richmond’s move back to England and his appointments under William III had certainly aided his financial situation. In 1697 he was able to purchase the country estate of Goodwood in Sussex, which still remains in the Lennox family today.

His wait for his Scottish lands was almost over too:  in 1702, when the dowager duchess of Richmond died, he came into possession of the Lennox estates. However, he immediately sold them off, pocketing the revenue but retaining the peerage that he had been awarded.

Marriage and Issue

Richmond married Anne Belasye in January 1693. They had three children together: two daughters, Louise and Anne, who both went on the marry earls, and a son, Charles.

Their son Charles and his wife Sarah Cadogan - though they were allegedly married to settle a gambling debt between their parents-- had a happy marriage, and it is through their twelve children that they secured the lineage of the Richmond and Lennox family. Charles was close to his grandmother, the Duchess of Portsmouth, and visited her every year in Aubigny. Because the 1st Duke of Richmond predeceased Portsmouth, it was actually Charles, 2nd Duke of Richmond, who inherited the duchy in France.

Downward spiral

Though Richmond had had success handed to him on a plate, his constant flip-flopping on political and religious issues meant that he was never truly considered a faithful or capable servant to any particular cause. His descendant, the 8th Duke of Richmond, commented that although his ancestor had held some important public offices throughout his life, “his unfortunate propensity for being everything by turns and nothing long effectually militated against any chance of his name being emblazoned upon the scroll of fame.”

The last few years of his life saw him decline into alcoholism, which took his life at the age of 51. He died at his estate in Goodwood on 27 May 1723 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. However, in 1750, his family had his body reinterred at Chichester Cathedral into the vault in the Lady Chapel, which had been given the 3rd Duke of Richmond as a family mausoleum.

Legacy

Along with his half-brothers, Duke of Monmouth, Duke of Grafton, and Duke of St Albans, Lennox’s descendants lay claim to some of the longest unbroken peerages in Britain. And, thanks to the Duchess of Portsmouth’s French connections, the Dukes of Richmond, Lennox and Aubigny hold the highest number of titles in the peerage.

Lennox is the ancestor of several prominent members of the modern royal family, including Diana, Princess of Wales, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and Sarah, Duchess of York. He is also, therefore, the ancestor to the second-in-line to the throne, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge.