Villiers, George, Duke of Buckingham (1592 -1628)

George Villiers was the fourth son of Sir George Villiers of Brokesby in Leicestershire, and his second wife, daughter of Anthony Beaumont, of Glenfield in Leicestershire. He was educated at home, and sent to France at the age of eighteen to learn the language. A well favoured and charming young man, he was seen at Apethorpe in Northamptonshire by James I, and became at once a favourite of the King. He held many high offices at the court, and was actively engaged in the negotiations for the marriage of Prince Charles to the Spanish princess. He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1616, created 27 August 1616, Viscount Villiers and Baron Whaddon, Earl of Buckingham 5 January 1617, Marquess of Buckingham 1 January 1619, and Duke of Buckingham and Earl of Coventry in 1623. Very unpopular with the English public, he was assassinated at Portsmouth by John Felton in 1628. He married, 16 May 1620, Katherine, Baroness de Ros in her own right, daughter and heir of Francis Manners, 6th Earl of Rutland, and they had three sons and one daughter. In the Bodleian Library, there is an embroidered binding on a copy of Sir Francis Bacon's Essayes. London, 1625, a work which was dedicated to Buckingham, with a portrait of him, after the engraving by S. de Passe, worked on both covers. While on an embassy to the Low Countries, he bought a collection of Arabic manuscripts which were given to Cambridge University Library after his death. There is a list of ninety printed books given by him to Cambridge University Library in Cambridge University Library MS Oo.7.52 (Donor's Book p.1 3.)