Fitzroy, George, Duke of Northumberland 1665-1716, third and youngest son of Charles II, by Barbara, countess of Castlemaine [see Villiers, Barbara, Duchess of Cleveland], born at Oxford in December 1665, was created Baron of Pontefract in the county of York, Viscount Falmouth in the county of Cornwall, and Earl of Northumberland on 1 Oct. 1674. He was employed on secret service at Venice in 1682, and on his return to England was created Duke of Northumberland (6 April 1683), and elected and installed knight of the Garter (10 Jan. and 8 April 1684). He served as a volunteer on the side of the French at the siege of Luxembourg in the summer of the same year, returning to England in the autumn. Evelyn, who met him soon after his return, describes him as of all his majesty's children the most accomplished and worth the owning, extremely handsome and well shaped, and skilled in horsemanship (Diary, 24 Oct. and 18 Dec. 1684). He was made colonel 2nd troop of horse guards in 1686, which he commanded in 1687, was appointed a lord of his majesty's bedchamber in December 1688, constable of Windsor Castle in 1701, and succeeded the Earl of Oxford as colonel of the royal regiment of horse March 1702-3, from which he was transferred to the 2nd troop of horse guards Jan. 1711-2. On 10 Jan. 1709-10 he obtained the rank of lieutenant-general, became lord-lieutenant of Berks in 1712, was sworn of the privy council on 7 April 1713, and was appointed lord-lieutenant of Surrey on 9 Oct. 1714. He was also chief butler of England. Frogmore House, Berkshire, was one of his seats. He was deprived of his lord-lieutenancies and his colonelcy after George I's accession. He died without issue at Epsom on 28 June 1716. He married in 1686 Catherine, daughter of Robert Wheatley, a poulterer, of Bracknell, Berkshire, and relict of Robert Lucy of Charlecote.

Sources:
     Lodge's Peerage of Ireland (Archdall), iv. 89
     Courthope's Hist. Peer.
     Burke's Extinct Peerage
     Secret Services of Charles II and James II (Camd. Soc.), p. 66
     Luttrell's Relation of State Affairs, i. 295, 304, 307, 322, 373, 434, 544, 615, v. 46, 268, 277, 278, vi. 711, 723
     Magn. Brit. Notit. 1702, p. 549
     Angl. Notit. 1687 pt. i. p. 179, 1714 pt. ii. p. 336
     Lysons's Magn. Brit. i. 433
     Haydn's Book of Dignities
     Hist. Reg. i. 352.

Contributor: J. M. R. [James McMullen Rigg]

Published: 1889