Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester

Portrait of Sir Peter Lely: Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester (around 1675)

Peter Cross : Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester, around 1685

Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester (* 1657 , † October 26, 1717 in Bath ) was the mistress of King James II of England .

Life

Catherine was the only daughter of the English statesman and playwright Sir Charles Sedley, 5th Baronet (1639-1701) and his first wife Lady Catherine Savage (1640-1680). Catherine came to the English court as a lady-in-waiting and around 1673 became the mistress of the Duke of York and later King James II of England (1633–1701). The connection resulted in three children:

• Catherine Darnley (1680-1743), ⚭ (1) 1699 James Annesley, 3rd Earl of Anglesey (1670-1702), ⚭ (2) 1705 John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby (1648-1721);
• James Darnley (1684-1685);
• Charles Darnley (1686-1687).

Since the Duke of York from his first marriage to Anne Hyde (1637–1671) had only two daughters, Maria (1662–1694) and Anne (1665–1714), and no legitimate heir - he married the Catholic again in 1673 Princess Maria Beatrice d'Este (1658-1718) a.

The years of poor health of the Duchess of York continued after the coronation (1685) and was linked to the king's still current love affair with Catherine Sedley. Throughout the years of her marriage, Maria had been confronted with her husband's infidelity. In this situation, the great influence of the Jesuit Edward Petre on James II made itself felt positively. He managed to get the king to submit to stricter morals and officially part with his mistress. Maria and Petre finally managed to get Catherine Sedley to go to Ireland , at least temporarily . In 1686 she returned from there, however, and James II awarded her the English nobility titles Countess of Dorchester , in the County of Dorset , and Baroness Darlington , of Darlington in the County of Durham on January 20, 1686 in compensation for the long service life . At the same time he promised Maria that he would never see Catherine Sedley again. However, this promise did not prevent him from bringing his two illegitimate sons, whom he had with his first lover, Arabella Churchill (1648–1730), from France to England.

In 1696 Catherine Sedley married the governor of Gibraltar, David Colyear , 1st Earl of Portmore († 1730). The joint marriage resulted in two sons, David Colyear, Viscount Milsington (1698-1728) and Charles Colyear, 2nd Earl of Portmore (1700-1785). She died of a heart attack in Bath on October 26, 1717 .

Quote

“ It's not my beauty, because he has to see that I don't have one. And my mind isn't, for it doesn't have enough to recognize mine. "

- Catherine Sedley on King James II

literature

• Alison Weir: Britain's Royal Family. A Complete Genealogy. Random House, 2011, ISBN 1446449114 .
• Hermann Schreiber: The Stuarts. Genius and sinister of a royal family. Bechtermünz Verlag GmbH, 1995.