Mary Capel, Countess of Essex


Mary Capel, Countess of Essex, born Lady Mary Bentinck, was the daughter of William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland, a Dutch and English nobleman who became in an early stage the favourite of stadtholder William, Prince of Orange and his wife Anne Villiers.
Mary is one of the Hampton Court Beauties who was painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller for Queen Mary II. Despite sharing a surname, Mary's aunt, Barbara Villiers, Viscountess FitzHarding was not the renowned courtesan and Windsor Beauty the Duchess of Cleveland, although there is a relation; the Duchess of Cleveland was Mary's first cousin once removed through her mother, Anne Villiers. Nevertheless, Barbara Villiers was painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller.

Family

Lady Mary's maternal grandparents were Sir Edward Villiers and Lady Frances Howard, daughter of the 2nd Earl of Suffolk and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Home, daughter of the 1st Earl of Dunbar. Through her grandfather, Sir Edward Villiers, she descended from Sir Oliver St. John and Margaret Beauchamp, mother to Lady Margaret Beaufort. Lady Mary's paternal grandparents were Bernard Bentinck, 6th Baron Bentinck of the Netherlands, a descendant of an ancient and noble family of Guelders and Overijssel, and his wife Anne van Bloemendale.

Marriages

Lady Mary married twice.
On 28 February 1692, she married Lt.-Gen. Algernon Capel, 2nd Earl of Essex. The couple had three children.
On 2 August 1714, she married Rt. Hon. Sir Conyers Darcy, son of Hon. John Darcy and Bridget Sutton. The marriage was childless. *Thomas Capell born 1705 left for America in 1720.

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