George Villiers 1st duke of Buckingham

George Villiers Buckingham, 1st duke of , 1592-1628, English courtier and royal favorite. He arrived (1614) at the English court as James I was tiring of his favorite, Robert Carr, earl of Somerset. Villiers was made a gentleman of the bedchamber (1615) and, after Somerset's disgrace, rose rapidly, becoming earl of Buckingham (1617), marquess (1618), and lord high admiral (1619). In 1620 he married Lady Katherine Manners, daughter of the Roman Catholic earl of Rutland. By this time Buckingham controlled dispensation of the king's patronage, which enabled him to grant lucrative monopolies to his relatives. In 1621, Parliament began to investigate abuses of these monopolies, but Buckingham prevented action against himself (though not against his friend Sir Francis Bacon ) by joining in the condemnation of his relatives. Buckingham favored the proposed marriage of Prince Charles (later Charles I ) with the Infanta Maria of Spain and in 1623 went with Charles to Madrid. There his arrogance contributed to the final breakdown of the long deadlocked marriage negotiations. Buckingham, now a duke, returned to England, advocating war with Spain, which made him the hero of Parliament. He lost that popularity rapidly by negotiating (1624) the marriage of Charles with another Catholic princess, Henrietta Maria, sister of Louis XIII of France. He was also blamed for the disastrous failure (Feb.-Mar., 1625) of an English expedition, under Graf von Mansfeld, to recover the Palatinate for Frederick the Winter King ; Buckingham failed to supply it adequately. By this time Charles had become king, and Buckingham was more powerful than ever, a fact that enraged Parliament. After the embarrassing failure (Oct., 1625) of an expedition against Cádiz, Buckingham was impeached (1626), and Charles dissolved Parliament to prevent his trial. The following year Buckingham led an expedition (another disaster) to relieve the Huguenots of La Rochelle, and Parliament delivered another remonstrance against him. The duke was at Portsmouth preparing yet another expedition for La Rochelle when he was killed by John Felton, a disgruntled naval officer. The romantic aspects of the duke's career figure largely in Alexander Dumas's historical novel, The Three Musketeers.

Bibliography: See biographies by R. Lockyer (1984) and C. Phipps (1985).

Buckingham, George Villiers, 1st Duke of (1592–1628) English statesman and court favourite of James I and Charles I. Buckingham joined the court of James I in 1614, and rapidly acquired a series of titles. In 1623, he was largely responsible for the breakdown in negotiations of marriage between Prince Charles and the Spanish Infanta Maria. In 1624, he arranged Charles' marriage to Henrietta Maria. Buckingham's failure to provide adequate supplies for an English expedition to the Palatinate led to charges of political incompetence. The disastrous expedition to capture Cádiz (1625) led to his impeachment, but Charles dissolved Parliament. In 1627 he led another unsuccessful campaign to relieve the Huguenots at La Rochelle. He was murdered by a discontented naval officer.

Buckingham, George Villiers, 1st duke of (1592–1628). Buckingham attracted James I's attention by his good looks, and by 1616 had replaced Robert Carr as favourite. Unlike Carr, however, he displayed considerable administrative ability. The king's repeated affirmations of his dependence upon Buckingham meant that he was blamed for unpopular policies such as the ‘Spanish match’ (for Prince Charles). Only in 1623, during his enforced stay in Spain, did he emancipate himself from James's tutelage. He planned to build up an anti‐Spanish alliance, of which France was to be the linchpin, but religion complicated the situation, for the French protestants of La Rochelle were under attack from their own king and appealed to Charles to save them. Buckingham sent out expeditions against Cadiz in 1625 and in support of La Rochelle in 1627, but both ended in humiliating defeat. The Commons attempted to impeach him in 1626, and two years later denounced him as the cause of all England's evils. This inspired John Felton to assassinate him at Portsmouth in August 1628. Subsequent events showed that he was a symptom rather than the cause of malfunctioning in the English polity.