Castlemaine, Countess of (1641–1709)

English mistress of Charles II of England 1660–70 and mother of his son, the Duke of Grafton (1663–1690).

A noted society hostess, she was the wife from 1659 of Roger Palmer (1634–1705), who was created Earl of Castlemaine in 1661. She became chief mistress of Charles 1660–70, when she was created Duchess of Cleveland. Among her descendants through the Duke of Grafton is Diana, Princess of Wales; Charles acknowledged five of her seven children as his own.

Villiers was born in London, the daughter of the 2nd Viscount Grandison. She became a Roman Catholic in 1663 and trafficked notoriously in the sale of offices. Supplanted in the king's favours by the Duchess of Portland, she moved to Paris in 1763, where she bigamously married Robert ‘Beau’ Fielding in 1705; the marriage was annulled in 1707.