Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland (27 November 1640-9 October 1709) was an English royal mistress of King Charles II of England and a lover of John Churchill.
Biography[]
Barbara Palmer was born in Westminster, England in 1640, the daughter of William Villiers, 2nd Viscount Grandison. Her father was killed at the storming of Bristol in 1643 during the English Civil War, and her family was impoverished by her late father's financial contributions to the Royalist cause. She was considered to be one of the most beautiful of the Royalist women, romancing Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield before marrying Roger Palmer, 1st Earl of Castlemaine in 1659. A year later, she became King Charles II of England's mistress, and the King repaid her services by making her husband an earl. In 1662, she became Lady to the Bedchamber to Queen Catherine of Braganza, although the two feuded constantly. In 1670, she was made Baroness Nonsuch. In 1672, her cousin John Churchill fathered an illegitimate child with her, Barbara Fitzroy. The 1673 Test Act led the Catholic Palmer to lose her position as Lady of the Bedchamber, and Charles II cast her aside in favor of Louise de Kérouaille. She had Nonsuch Palace pulled down from 1682 to 1683 to pay off her gambling debts, and she later fathered the actor Cardonell Goodman's son in 1686. Her husband died in 1705, and she remarried to Major-General Robert Fielding, who was after her money. She died at Walpole House in 1709.