Frances Villiers

Lady Frances Villiers (née Howard; ca.1633 – 30 November 1677) was an English noblewoman and a governess to the future Queens Mary II and Anne. Frances was the youngest daughter of Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, and his wife, the former Lady Elizabeth Home (daughter of George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar). In 1646 she married Edward Villiers, the son of the late Sir Edward Villiers, Master of the Mint. Their children were: Anne (1651-1688), who married Hans William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland, and had children Katherine (1652-1709), who married, first, Louis-Jacques, Marquis du Puissar (died 1701) and second, William Villiers, a son of George Villiers, 4th Viscount Grandison, and thus her cousin Barbara (1654-1708), Viscountess Fitzharding, who married John Berkeley, 4th Viscount Fitzhardinge, and had two daughters Edward Villiers, 1st Earl of Jersey (1656–1711), Elizabeth Hamilton, Countess of Orkney (1657-1733) Mary (1670-1753), who married William O'Brien, 3rd Earl of Inchiquin, and had children Henry (1677-1707) Henrietta (died 1720), who married John Campbell, 2nd Earl of Breadalbane and Holland, and had children Frances became governess to the two young princesses, the daughters of the Duke of York (the future King James II of England) in 1669, after the death of their mother, Anne Hyde, whose father, Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, was a friend of the Villiers family. She was one of many relatives of Barbara Villiers to be benefitted by the position of her niece. She was described as "gentle and kind hearted", and her daughters became the playmates of the princesses. She did not aprove of the nature of princess Mary's correspondance with Frances Aspley.