Elizabeth Boyle, Lady Shannon

Elizabeth Killigrew

Elizabeth Killigrew was baptised on 16 May 1622 at St. Margaret's Church, Lothbury, London, England.2

She is the daughter of Sir Robert Killigrew and Mary Wodehouse.1,2

Elizabeth Boyle (née Killigrew), Viscountess Shannon (1622[Notes 1]–1680) was an English courtier, the daughter of Sir Robert Killigrew and sister of the wit and dramatist Thomas Killigrew. In 1639[1]

Elizabeth married Francis Boyle (later Viscount Shannon), son of the Irish landowner Lord Cork (himself a friend of her stepfather), and later joined the royalist court-in-exile of Queen Henrietta Maria as a maid of honour — where she became one of the many mistresses of the queen's son, the future King Charles II;[2] Elizabeth's daughter Charlotte, born c. 1650, was fathered by the exiled Prince Charles.

In 1660, the year Charles was restored to the throne as Charles II, Elizabeth Boyle's husband was raised to the Irish peerage as Viscount Shannon.

Lady Shannon's illegitimate daughter, Charlotte Jemima Henrietta Boyle (alias fitzRoy; d. 1684), married firstly the playwright James Howard and in 1672 remarried William Paston, son of the Earl of Yarmouth. The poet Anne Killigrew was Elizabeth's niece; among her relatives Lady Shannon also numbered the politicians and playwrights Sir William Killigrew (her brother) and Roger Boyle, Earl of Orrery (a brother-in-law), and such luminaries as Robert Boyle, the physicist, and Lady Ranelagh (both siblings-in-law).

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She married Francis Boyle, 1st Viscount Shannon, son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork and Catherine Fenton, on 24 October 1638 at King's Chapel, Whitehall, London, England.2

From 24 October 1638, her married name became Boyle.1

She and Charles II Stuart, King of Great Britain were associated circa 1649.2

As a result of her marriage, Elizabeth Killigrew was styled as Viscountess Shannon on 6 September 1660.

Child of Elizabeth Killigrew and Francis Boyle, 1st Viscount Shannon

Hon. Richard Boyle+1 d. a Sep 1679

Child of Elizabeth Killigrew and Charles II Stuart, King of Great Britain

Charlotte Jemima Henrietta Maria Fitzroy +2 b. 1650, d. 28 Jul 1684 Charlotte's Wiki Page

She died circa December 1680.2 She was buried on 4 January 1680/81 at Westminster Abbey, Westminster, London, England.2 Her will was probated on 8 February 1680/81.2

Her last will was dated 27 July 1680.

Citations [S37] Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 899. Hereinafter cited as Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 107th edition. [S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume XI, page 655. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.

Elizabeth Killigrew (1622–1680) was an English peeress and courtier. One of the many mistresses of Charles II of England, she was also the sister of Thomas Killigrew and the wife of Francis Boyle, 1st Viscount Shannon. She had a daughter with the king, Charlotte, Countess of Yarmouth.

Baptised on 16 May 1622, she was the daughter of Sir Robert Killigrew and sister of Thomas Killigrew, the dramatist who joined Charles II during his period of exile and later became Master of the Revels. She came to the king's attention through her position as maid-of-honour to Henrietta Maria of France (Charles II's mother), and circa 1650 bore King Charles a daughter, Charlotte Jemima Henrietta Maria FitzRoy (1650–1684).

In 1660, the year of the Restoration of the monarchy, she married Francis Boyle, who was created the 1st Viscount Shannon the same year (1660).

Her daughter was married firstly to James Howard (the grandson of Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk), and secondly in 1672 to William Paston, 2nd Earl of Yarmouth.

References: p.239, Monarchs, Murders and Mistresses, David Hilliam, Sutton Publishing, v2000

Other References

• "Thomas and Robert Killigrew", Westminster Abbey