Name Charlotte Lady | Religion Anglican | |
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Noble family LeeHouse of Stuart (distaff) Father Edward Henry Lee, 1st Earl of Lichfield Children Benedict Leonard Calvert, Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Balti Parents Charlotte Lee, Countess of Lichfield, Edward Lee, 1st Earl of Lichfield Similar People Benedict Leonard Calvert, Charlotte Lee - Countess, Barbara Palmer - 1st Duchess, Charles II of England, Robert II of Scotland |
Charlotte Lee, Lady Baltimore (13 March 1678 Old Style – 22 January 1721 Old Style), was an English noblewoman, and granddaughter of King Charles II of England and his mistress Barbara Villiers. She married in 1699, Benedict Leonard Calvert, 4th Baron Baltimore, from whom she separated in 1705; and later, married Christopher Crowe. She was the mother of Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, and of Benedict Leonard Calvert, who was Governor of Maryland, from 1727–1731.
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Early life
Lady Charlotte Lee was born on 13 March 1678 at St. James's Park, St. James, London. She was the eldest of at least fourteen children of Edward Henry Lee, 1st Earl of Lichfield (4 February 1663 – 14 July 1716) and Lady Charlotte Fitzroy (5 September 1664 – 17 February 1718), illegitimate daughter of King Charles II by his mistress Barbara Villiers, Countess of Castlemaine, Duchess of Cleveland.
Lady Charlotte's mother was thirteen years old at the time of her birth, having married the Earl of Lichfield at the age of twelve.
Her paternal grandparents were Sir Francis Henry Lee of Ditchley, 4th Baronet of Quarendon and Elizabeth Pope, daughter of Thomas Pope, 2nd Earl of Downe.
Marriage to Lord Baltimore
On 2 January 1699, at the age of twenty, she married her first husband Benedict Leonard Calvert, 4th Baron Baltimore (21 March 1679 – 16 April 1715), son of Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore and Jane Lowe.
Charlotte assumed the title of Lady Baltimore in February 1715, when her husband succeeded to the title of 4th Baron Baltimore upon the death of his father, the third Baron. The title of Proprietary Governor of the Province of Maryland had been lost to the third Baron during the Glorious Revolution and would be restored to Charles Calvert, the son of Charlotte and Benedict, upon the latter's death on 16 April 1715.
Charlotte and Lord Baltimore had six children:
Marriage to Christopher Crowe
Charlotte and Lord Baltimore were divorced in 1705.
She married her second husband Christopher Crowe (c.1681 – 9 November 1749), Consul of Livorno, sometime before 10 December 1719. Charlotte was three years her husband's senior. This marriage produced four more children.
Charlotte's four children from her second marriage:
Death and legacy
Charlotte Lee died of rheumatism on 22 January 1721 at Woodford Hall, Woodford, Essex. She was buried at Woodford on 29 January 1721. She died intestate and her estate was administered on 4 March 1721 at Woodford Hall.
In fiction
Charlotte Lee appears as a minor character in Anya Seton's historical romance Devil Water.