Arabella Churchill (royal mistress)
Arabella Churchill (23 February 1648 – 30 May 1730) was the mistress of King James II, and the mother of four of his children (surnamed FitzJames Stuart, that is "son of James Stuart"). Arabella was the child of Sir Winston Churchill (an ancestor of the Prime Minister of the same name) and Elizabeth Drake.
An older sister of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, she began her relationship with James, then Duke of York, around 1665, while he was still married to Anne Hyde. Arabella became the duchess's lady-in-waiting in that year, and gave birth to two children during Anne's lifetime. Some time after 1674, she married Charles Godfrey and had three more children.
[edit] Children with James II of England
- Henrietta FitzJames, (1667 – 3 April 1730)
- James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, (1670 – 1734)
- Henry FitzJames, 1st Duke of Albemarle, (1673 – 1702)
- Arabella FitzJames, (1674 – 7 November 1704), became a nun.
From her children Henrieta, Countess of Newcastle and James, Duke of Berwick, she is the ancestor of the Earls Spencer and the late Diana, Princess of Wales as well as of the Dukes of Berwick, the later Dukes of Alba and of Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba, the person with the most noble titles in the world.
[edit] Children with Charles Godfrey
- Francis Godfrey.
- Charlotte Godfrey, b. bef. 1685, married Hugh Boscawen, 1st Viscount Falmouth.
- Elizabeth Godfrey, married Edmund Dunch, son of Hungerford Dunch.
[edit] External links
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