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unusual facts about Groom of the Bedchamber



Aurelian Townshend

According to Cokayne, Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford, married, as his second wife, shortly before 12 April 1673, Diana Kirke, daughter of George Kirke, 'the well known Groom of the Bedchamber', by his second wife, Mary Townshend, daughter of Aurelian Townshend.

Bevil Granville

Grenville was the grandson of Sir Bevil Grenville, and the son of Bernard Grenville, M.P., and groom of the bedchamber to Charles II, by his wife Anne, daughter and sole heiress of Cuthbert Morley of Hornby, Yorkshire.

Charles Howard, 9th Earl of Suffolk

They were, indeed successful in securing posts at his accession as George I in 1714; Charles as Groom of the Bedchamber to the King, and Henrietta as a Woman of the Bedchamber to Caroline, Princess of Wales.

Elizabeth Wray, 3rd Baroness Norreys of Rycote

She was the wife of Edward Wray, Groom of the Bedchamber to King James I of England, with whom she eloped in 1622, and incurred the king's displeasure as she was his royal ward.

Thomas FitzMaurice, 5th Earl of Orkney

Their fourth son, Alexander Temple FitzMaurice, became a Groom of the Bedchamber in 1867 and later served in the Yeomanry Cavalry.


see also

4 Hamilton Place

On the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Charles II granted James Hamilton, a ranger of Hyde Park and later groom of the bedchamber, a corner of land which had been excluded from Hyde Park when it was walled.

Bridget de Vere

Elizabeth Norris, Baroness Norris of Rycote (c.1603- c.November 1645), married Edward Wray, Groom of the Bedchamber to King James I of England, by whom she had issue.

Eikon Basilike

Some later editions of the Eikon Basilike contained a sworn statement by William Levett, Esq., longtime courtier and groom of the bedchamber to the King, that Levett had witnessed Charles writing the text during the time that Levett accompanied him in his imprisonment on the Isle of Wight.

Fowke baronets

He was the son of Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Fowke, Groom of the Bedchamber to the Duke of Cumberland.

William Crowne

These included Thomas Elliot (a groom of the bedchamber to Charles II), Sir Lewis Kirke and others (who had taken Acadia in the expedition against Quebec in 1632), and heirs of Sir William Alexander (the original grantee, from whom Charles de la Tour's father had obtained the grant).