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.

Earl life 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).

Career 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 who benefitted from the position of her niece. She was described as "gentle and kind hearted", and her daughters became the playmates of the princesses.

When Princess Mary left for Holland in 1677, as the wife of William of Orange, Frances's eldest son, Edward, went with the couple as Mary's Master of Horse. She was buried at Westminster Abbey. She was succeeded as royal governess by Henrietta Hyde.

Marriage and issue 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,