page_title: Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland
hierarchical_section_title: Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland
caption_attribution_description: Portrait of Barbara Villiers Duchess of Cleveland 1641 - 1709
context_page_description: Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland, more often known by her maiden name Barbara Villiers or her title of Countess of Castlemaine, was an English royal mistress of the Villiers family and perhaps the most notorious of the many mistresses of King Charles II of England, by whom she had five children, all of them acknowledged and subsequently ennobled. Barbara was the subject of many portraits, in particular by court painter Sir Peter Lely. In the Gilded Age, it was stylish to adorn an estate with her likeness.
  Barbara's first cousin Elizabeth Villiers was the presumed mistress of King William III.
context_section_description: Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland (27 November [O.S. 17 November] 1640 – 9 October 1709), more often known by her maiden name Barbara Villiers or her title of Countess of Castlemaine, was an English royal mistress of the Villiers family and perhaps the most notorious of the many mistresses of King Charles II of England, by whom she had five children, all of them acknowledged and subsequently ennobled. Barbara was the subject of many portraits, in particular by court painter Sir Peter Lely.  In the Gilded Age, it was stylish to adorn an estate with her likeness.
  Barbara's first cousin Elizabeth Villiers (later 1st Countess of Orkney 1657–1733) was the presumed mistress of King William III.
caption: Portrait by Henri Gascar
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