Title Countess of Essex Name Mary Countess | Tenure 1698–1714 Nationality British Died August 26, 1726 | |
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Parents William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland | ||
Mary Capel, Countess of Essex (1679 – 20 August 1726), born Lady Mary Bentinck, was the daughter of William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland, a Dutch and English nobleman who became in an early stage the favourite of stadtholder William, Prince of Orange (the future King of England) and his wife Anne Villiers (died 30 November 1688).
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Mary is one of the Hampton Court Beauties who was painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller for Queen Mary II. Despite sharing a surname, Mary's aunt, Barbara Villiers, Viscountess FitzHarding was not the renowned courtesan and Windsor Beauty the Duchess of Cleveland, although there is a relation; the Duchess of Cleveland was Mary's first cousin once removed through her mother, Anne Villiers. Nevertheless Barbara Villiers was painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller.
Family
Lady Mary's paternal grandparents were Sir Edward Villiers and Lady Frances Howard, daughter of the 2nd Earl of Suffolk and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Home (died 19 August 1633), daughter of the 1st Earl of Dunbar. Through her grandfather, Sir Edward Villiers, she descended from Sir Oliver St. John and Margaret Beauchamp, mother to Lady Margaret Beaufort. Lady Mary's maternal grandparents were Bernard Bentinck, 6th Baron Bentinck of the Netherlands (died 29 July 1668), a descendent from an ancient and noble family of Guelders and Overijssel, and his wife Anne van Bloemendale (died 30 March 1685).
Marriages
Lady Mary married twice.
On 28 February 1692, she married Lt.-Gen. Algernon Capel (1670–1710), 2nd Earl of Essex. The couple had four children.
On 2 August 1714, she married Rt. Hon. Sir Conyers Darcy (died 1758), son of Hon. John Darcy (1659–1688) and Bridget Sutton. The marriage was childless. *Thomas Capell born 1705 left for America in 1720.