Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans

Charles was Nell Gwyn and Charles II’s first child, born on 8 May 1670. For some reason he was not given a surname at the date of his christening – not even the generic FitzRoy that many royal illegitimate children were provided – and for the first six and a half years of his life, he was simply known as Master Charles.

Titles

While Nell never pushed for titles for herself, she wanted to secure them for her sons. For more than six years, her eldest son had gone without title and surname, and was passed over for a peerage by even his younger half-brother by Louise de Kérouaille in 1675. Towards the end of 1676, while she was in good standing with the king, Nell urged him to elevate her children to an equal peerage alongside their other brothers. There is a legend, which may well be true given Nell’s feisty humour, that when she and her children were visiting court, the king asked to see little Charles; “Come here you little bastard,” Nell called to their eldest, “and see your father.” When Charles rebuked her for her language toward their son, she replied “Your majesty has given me no other name by which to call him!” Though we can’t be sure if that’s true, by 27 December 1676 a patent was draw up to create Charles Earl of Burford and Baron Heddington. 

A month later, Charles and his younger brother James were finally awarded their surname - Beauclerk - and granted their coats of arms. Charles’ coat of arms included a white antelope as the dexter (right) supporter to signify his descent from Henry IV of France, and a white greyhound as a symbol of his great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Henry VII, as the sinister (left) supporter. 

Like his half-brothers, Beauclerk enjoyed a generous allowance that was issued by Charles II, starting with £1,500 per year and increasing with each title and honour that was bestowed upon him. Just before his father’s death, he was granted the offices of Master of the King’s Hawks and Grand Falconer of England which also bought him an additional income of £1,500 per year. They were issued by Charles II as a nod to his mother’s love of hawking - titles which are still held by the Duke of St Albans today.

Interest in the Forces

Even at a young age, Beauclerk was said to identify himself as being the king’s son, rather than the son of an actress; unlike his younger brother, James, he was no mother’s boy. He often accompanied his father on his visits to the royal guards or on inspections of the naval fleet, and he was riveted by tales from his older half-brother James Duke of Monmouth, and Prince Rupert (Charles II’s cousin) of war and heroism. They, along with the king, took a shine to the young boy, fostering his interest in military matters, and from an early age he seemed to be being primed for a life of a career in the English forces.

When he was twelve, Beauclerk was sent to France for his education. Here he would be taught French and receive training in military administration, amongst other formal lessons, to prepare him for his future career in the military and the court. After two years he returned to England on what was supposed to be a short visit over Christmas in 1683 but, in January, Charles II finally made the decision to elevate him to the top of the peerage, and he was created Duke of St Albans. After this, he moved into apartments in the palace that he shared with his half-brothers and began his life as a courtier.

During the early reign of his uncle, James II, pressure was put on Nell to dismiss St Albans’ protestant tutor in favour of a Catholic replacement, surround themselves with Catholics, and to convert to Catholicism themselves. Not one to be blackmailed or pushed into anything she did not want to do, Nell stood her ground. But in 1687, St Albans, who was only seventeen, travelled to the continent, supposedly going to Hungary to become a Catholic, in accordance with the king’s wishes. In  fact he was heading to the Dutch Republic to support William of Orange’s claim to the English throne during the crucial year lead up to the Glorious Revolution. After this, his military career really took off, and in the following decade he fought in the imperial army, commanded a horse regiment, and served under William III in Flanders several times.

After the Glorious Revolution, St Albans remained popular with William III who gave him several tokens of affection, such as a set of spotted coach horses after he assisted in the Treaty of Ryswick. In 1695 he was granted a pension of £2,000 from the crown. He received a further grant of £800 per year from the parliament of Ireland in 1705. In 1718 he was made a Knight of the Garter. 

A Ladies Man

St Albans, in a blend of both his mother and father’s good qualities, was said to be charming, attractive, and well mannered, leading even John Evelyn, who loathed the king’s mistresses and most of their offspring, to write that St Albans and his half-brother, the Duke of Northumberland, were “both very pretty boys and seeme to have more Witt than the rest.” His luck with the opposite sex – also inherited from his parents – also became well-known, and satires and poems in the mid to late 1680’s poked fun at his love for the ladies.

In 1694, St Albans married the celebrated beauty and heiress, Diana de Vere, the daughter of the 20th (and final) Earl of Oxford – a powerful noble family and title that went back five hundred and fifty years. De Vere, who served as First Lady of the Bedchamber and Lady of the Stole to Caroline, Princess of Wales for several years, was a well-liked figure at court. Their marriage, at least outwardly, seemed a happy union, and they had nine sons and three daughters together. Their descendants adopted the surname de Vere Beauclerk, which is still in use today. Several of their children went on to become prominent members of society, such as Vere Beauclerk, naval officer and politician, James Beauclerk, bishop of Hereford, and Aubrey Beauclerk, naval officer.

Legacy

St Albans died in Bath on 10 May 1726 and was buried in Westminster Abbey ten days later.

As his father had lay dying in February 1685, St Albans was granted permission to visit the king in his bedchambers. Here, his father handed him an heirloom that was poignant and precious, signifying the strong bond that the king must have felt towards him; the ring that his own father, Charles I, handed to William Juxon the bishop of London moments before his execution, which was sent to Charles living in exile. Thirty-six years later, the same ring was passed again from father to son and remained it in the Beauclerk family until the 21st century.

Like others of Charles II’s illegitimate children, St Albans amassed great wealth and forged a successful career in the highest echelons of society; unlike his half-siblings, who had the advantage of coming from aristocratic lineage on the maternal side he was the son of a common actress. His peerage, titles and estates have been passed down through his male line, making him -- and, of course, his mother -- the ancestors of one of the longest-running noble families in England.

James Beauclerk

On Christmas Day 1671, Nell gave birth to her second son with King Charles, who was christened James, after the Duke of York. Like his brother, he remained without a surname until December 1676, and was called Master James for the first five years of his life.

Not much is known about his childhood, but he seems to have been gentler and more obliging than his feisty brother, and a bit of a mummy’s boy. This may also have been because he had a weaker constitution than his brother; aside from the usual illnesses that children suffer from, records show that in intervals during 1675-76 there were serious concerns over his health and he was treated by surgeons using all sorts of powders, cordials, and medicines.

At the same time his brother was showered with titles, James was, rather strangely, not granted a peerage but given the precedence of the eldest son of an earl and styled as Lord James Beauclerk. There is nothing to indicate why James was not given a title of his own, but Charles may have planned to raise him to the peerage when he was older, as his other brothers had been. But he was, along with his older brother, granted a coat of arms in January 1677.

In the summer of 1678, the six-year-old James was sent to Paris for his formal education. We do not know anything about why he was sent to France, or the details about his school or education -- even where he resided, other than Nell mentioning in a letter to a friend that he was to be schooled there. Little did Nell know as she waved him off, that it was the last time they would see each other.

Two years later, in June 1680, Nell received the news from Paris that her eight-year-old son had died. The letter simply stated that he had died ‘of a sore leg’, and whether that was through illness, accident, or, as some have speculated, poison, it was sudden enough that Nell had not been sent any information about his health, nor had made any plans to travel to France to be with her son. Details of both James’ time in France, and his death there, remain a mystery. And, as there is no even record of where he was buried, it is unlikely that his body was returned to England.