Francis Knollys

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Sir Francis Knollys KG (* 1514 in Rotherfield Grays, Oxfordshire; † July 19, 1596 ibid) was an English minister under Elizabeth I (Tudor).

Life

He comes from a family that had already served the first Tudors , and began his career at the court of Henry VIII. However, he only held high offices under Elizabeth I, whose cousin he was by marriage. The Queen commissioned him to take in the fugitive Maria Stuart in 1568 . Knollys was appointed to the Privy Council and administered the finances of the royal household. As a Puritan he was sometimes critical of royal politics, but he remained a close confidante of Elisabeth until the end of his life.

Family and offspring

In 1540 he married Catherine Carey , the daughter of Mary Boleyn . She was the sister of Queen Anne Boleyn . The couple had the following children:

  1. ⚭ Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex
  2. ⚭ Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
  3. ⚭ Christopher Blount
  • Sir Henry Knollys (* 1545 † 1583) ⚭ Margaret Cave (* 1549 † 1600), daughter of Sir Ambrose Cave and Margaret Willington
  • Elizabeth Knollys ⚭ Sir Thomas Leighton, son of John Leighton of Watlesburgh and Joyce Sutton
  • William Knollys, 1st Earl of Banbury (* 1545 † 1632)
  1. ⚭ Dorothy Bray
  2. ⚭ Elizabeth Howard, daughter of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk
  • Edward Knollys (* 1546 - † 1580)
  • Sir Robert Knollys (* 1547 - † 1626) ⚭ Catherine Vaughan, daughter of Sir Rowland Vaughan
  • Richard Knollys (* 1548 † 1596) ⚭ Joan Heigham, daughter of John Heigham
  • Sir Francis Knollys the Younger (* 1552 † 1643) ⚭ Lettice Barrett, daughter of John Barrett, father-in-law of John Hampden
  • Sir Thomas Knollys ⚭ Odelia de Morana, daughter of John de Morana
  • Anne Knollys (* 1553 † 1608) ⚭ Thomas West, 2nd Baron De La Warr
  • Catherine Knollys (* 1560 † 1620) ⚭ Gerald Fitzgerald, Baron Offaley
  • Cecily Knollys

further known descendants:

  • Sir Charles Knowles , 1st Baronet of Banbury (* 1704 † 1777), Admiral, ⚭ 2nd Maria Magdalena Therese de Bouget
  • Anna Charlotte Christina Knowles (* 1752 † 1839), chamberlain to Empress Catherine the Great of Russia.
  • Sir Charles Henry Knowles , 2nd Baronet of Banbury (* 1754 † 1831), Admiral
  • Sir Francis Charles Knowles, 3rd Baronet of Banbury (* 1802 † 1892), Admiral
  • Sir Charles Frederick Knowles, 4th Baronet of Banbury (1832 † 1918), Vice-Admiral
  • Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874 † 1965), British statesman
  • Lady Diana Frances Spencer , Crown Princess of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Princess of Wales (* 1961 † 1997), first wife of the English heir to the throne Prince Charles

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Knollys, Francis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English minister under Elizabeth I.
DATE OF BIRTH 1514
PLACE OF BIRTH Rotherfield Grays, Oxfordshire
DATE OF DEATH July 19, 1596
Place of death Rotherfield Grays, Oxfordshire