by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2024

Henry Fitzroy, 1st Duke of Grafton; Credit – Wikipedia

Despite fathering many illegitimate children with his mistresses, King Charles II of England had no children with his wife Catherine of Braganza. Charles II is an ancestor through his mistresses of many British aristocrats and of several women who married into the British Royal Family. Lucy Walter and Charles II are ancestors of Sarah, Duchess of York and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester. Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland and Charles II are ancestors of Diana, Princess of Wales and Sarah, Duchess of York. Louise Renée de Penancoet de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth and Charles II are ancestors of Diana, Princess of Wales, Queen Camilla, and Sarah, Duchess of York.

King Charles II of England; Credit – Wikipedia

Born on September 28, 1663, at the Palace of Whitehall in London, England, Henry Fitzroy, 1st Duke of Grafton was an illegitimate son of King Charles II of England and one of his mistresses, Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland in her own right. The surname FitzRoy comes from the Anglo-Norman Fitz, meaning “son of” and Roy, meaning “king”, implying the original bearer of the surname was a child of a king. Charles’s paternal grandparents were King Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria of France (the daughter of King Henri IV of France and his second wife Marie de’ Medici). His maternal grandparents were William Villiers, 2nd Viscount Grandison and Mary Bayning.

Henry’s mother Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland; Credit – Wikipedia

Henry’s mother was born in 1640 as Barbara Villiers, the only child of William Villiers, 2nd Viscount Grandison and Mary Bayning. In 1643, Barbara’s father died in the First English Civil War, leaving his 18-year-old widow and his three-year-old daughter in financial difficulty. Barbara’s mother soon married Charles Villiers, 2nd Earl of Anglesey, her late husband’s cousin. The marriage was childless and Barbara’s stepfather died from smallpox in 1661. Barbara was considered one of the most beautiful of the young Royalist women but her lack of a dowry did not help her marriage prospects. In 1659, Barbara married the Roman Catholic Roger Palmer, later 1st Earl of Castlemaine, against his family’s wishes. In 1660, Barbara became King Charles II’s mistress.

Besides Henry, Barbara gave birth to five other children and it is surmised that they were all the children of King Charles II. Through their children, Barbara Palmer and King Charles II are the ancestors of Diana, Princess of Wales and Sarah, Duchess of York, and their children Prince William, Prince Harry, Princess Beatrice, and Princess Eugenie. As a reward for Barbara’s services, Charles II created Roger Palmer Earl of Castlemaine in 1661.

The children of Barbara Palmer, probably the children of King Charles II, and therefore, probably the full siblings of Henry Fitzroy, 1st Duke of Grafton:

• Lady Anne FitzRoy (1661 – 1721), married Thomas Lennard, 15th Baron Dacre, 1st Earl of Sussex, had four children
• Charles Fitzroy, 2nd Duke of Cleveland, 1st Duke of Southampton (1662 – 1730), married (1) Mary Wood, no children (2) Anne Pulteney, had six children
• Lady Charlotte FitzRoy (1664–1717), married Edward Lee, 1st Earl of Lichfield, had eighteen children
• George FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Northumberland (1665–1716), married (1) Catherine Wheatley, no children (2) Mary Dutton, no children
• Barbara FitzRoy (1672–1737), became a nun taking the name Sister Benedicta; her mother claimed that she was Charles II’s daughter but she was may have been the child of her mother’s second cousin and lover John Churchill, later 1st Duke of Marlborough

Henry’s wife Isabella & their son Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton; Credit – Wikipedia

On August 1, 1672, nearly nine-year-old Henry, the newly created Earl of Euston, was betrothed to four-year-old Isabella Bennet, daughter and heiress of Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington and Elisabeth of Nassau, a granddaughter of Maurits of Nassau, Prince of Orange, and a great-granddaughter of Willem I (the Silent), Prince of Orange. On November 4, 1679, Henry, now the newly created Duke of Grafton, and Isabella were married. In 1685, when her father died, Isabella became the 2nd Countess of Arlington in her own right.

Henry and Isabella had one son who succeeded his parents as 2nd Duke of Grafton and 3rd Earl of Arlington:

• Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton (1683 – 1757), married Lady Henrietta Somerset, had seven children

Henry was raised as a sailor and was well-suited to military life. He was appointed Colonel of the Grenadier Guards in 1681 and served as Vice-Admiral of England from 1682 to 1689. Henry participated in several military expeditions, both at sea and on land. In 1684, Henry fought on the side of the French in the Siege of Luxembourg, when King Louis XIV of France successfully laid siege to the Spanish-controlled Fortress of Luxembourg. In 1685, when his half-brother James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, an illegitimate son of King Charles II of England and his mistress Lucy Walter, attempted to claim the throne by overthrowing their uncle King James II, Henry fought against his half-brother and commanded the royal troops in Somerset. However, Henry later acted with John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, and joined his first cousin William III, Prince of Orange to overthrow their uncle King James II in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, resulting in his first cousins and husband and wife William III, Prince of Orange and Princess Mary of England, the elder of the two daughters of King James II, reigning England jointly as King William III and Queen Mary II.

In 1683, Henry became captain of the HMS Grafton, a British naval ship named after him. On July 10, 1690, at the Battle of Beachy Head during the Nine Years’ War, pitting the French and the Dutch against each other, Henry’s brilliant action aboard the HMS Grafton gave the Dutch the victory. However, just three months later, on October 9, 1690, in Cork, Ireland, 27-year-old Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton died from wounds received two weeks earlier at the Siege of Cork, during the Williamite War in Ireland when supporters of the former King James II attempted to retake the English throne from King William III and Queen Mary II.

St. Genevieve Church and Churchyard; Credit – The church of St Genevieve, Euston Park by Evelyn Simak, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=128823248

The remains of Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton were returned to England where he was buried in the churchyard at St. Genevieve Church in Euston, Suffolk, England. His descendants still hold the peerage Duke of Grafton. The current holder of the peerage is Henry Oliver Charles FitzRoy, 12th Duke of Grafton, born in 1978.

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Works Cited

• Beauclerk-Dewar, Peter & Powell, Roger. (2006). Right Royal Bastards – The Fruits of Passion. Burke’s Peerage & Gentry LLC.
• Flantzer, Susan. (2020). Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland, Mistress of King Charles II of England. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/barbara-palmer-1st-duchess-of-cleveland-mistress-of-king-charles-ii-of-england/
• Flantzer, Susan. (2016). King Charles II of England. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-charles-ii-of-england/
• Fraser, Antonia. (2002). King Charles II. Phoenix.
• Henry Fitzroy, 1st Duke of Grafton. geni_family_tree. (2023). https://www.geni.com/people/Henry-Fitzroy-1st-Duke-of-Grafton/6000000003875372660
• Weir, Alison. (2008). Britain’s Royal Families – The Complete Genealogy. Vintage Books.
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2024). Henry Fitzroy, 1st Duke of Grafton. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_FitzRoy,_1st_Duke_of_Grafton