Name Edward 1st Great grandchildren Benedict Swingate Calvert | Died July 14, 1716 | |
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Spouse Charlotte Lee, Countess of Lichfield (m. 1677) Children Charlotte Lee, Lady Balti Grandchildren Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Balti, Benedict Leonard Calvert Similar People Charlotte Lee - Countess, Barbara Palmer - 1st Duchess, Charles II of England, Benedict Leonard Calvert, Nancy Lancaster | ||
Edward Henry Lee, 1st Earl of Lichfield (4 February 1663 – 14 July 1716) was an English peer. He was a staunch Tory and followed James II to Rochester, Kent after the king's escape from Whitehall in December 1688. His subsidiary titles were Viscount Quarendon and Baron Spelsbury.
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Biography
Lee was the son of Sir Francis Henry Lee, 4th Baronet of Quarendon and his wife Lady Elizabeth Pope, daughter of Thomas Pope, 2nd Earl of Downe, who was later third wife of Robert Bertie, 3rd Earl of Lindsey. His great grandfather, Henry Lee, was the cousin and heir of Henry Lee of Ditchley. His father's half-brother was the libertine-poet the Earl of Rochester.
Lee was created Earl of Lichfield in 1674 at the age of ten, a result of his betrothal to the daughter of King Charles II. The Lady Charlotte Fitzroy was the fourth of six children born to the king's mistress, the Duchess of Cleveland. Sweet-natured and strikingly beautiful, Charlotte was adored by her father the king. She was contracted at the age of ten to Lee, who was one year older than his bride-to-be. Three years later, having reached puberty, the twelve- and thirteen-year-olds were married on 6 February 1677. He died two years before his wife, aged 53.
From 1687 to 1689, Lichfield served as Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire. He commanded Lichfield's Regiment, an infantry regiment in the English Army until his dismissal for Jacobite sympathies following the Glorious Revolution. It later played prominent part in the Williamite War in Ireland (1689-1691), going through a succession of new Colonels including Henry Wharton and Richard Brewer.
Issue
Lady Lichfield bore him at least eleven children, probably more.