Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland

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Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland bigraphy, stories - English diplomat

Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland : biography

5 September 1641 – 28 September 1702

Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland KG, PC (5 September 1641 – 28 September 1702) was an English statesman and nobleman. His sarcasm and bad temper, and his reputation as a ruthless advocate of absolute monarchy, made him numerous enemies, and he was forced to flee abroad in 1688, but later underwent a political rehabilitation. In his last years he appeared in a somewhat different light as a disinterested adviser to the Crown who neither sought nor wished for office. By the standards of the Restoration Court, his private life was remarkably free from scandal.Kenyon p.8

Life

Early life

Born in Paris, son of Henry Spencer, 1st Earl of Sunderland, and Lady Dorothy Sidney, daughter of Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester, Spencer inherited his father’s peerage dignities at the age of three, becoming Baron Spencer of Wormleighton and Earl of Sunderland.Kenyon p.3 He joined the British Army, reaching the rank of captain in Prince Rupert’s Regiment of Horse. He married Anne Digby (died 1715), daughter of the Lord Bristol on 10 June 1665,Kenyon p.8 then proceeded to serve successively as ambassador to Madrid (1671–1672), Paris (1672–1673), and the United Provinces (1673). He served as a Gentleman of the Bedchamber from 1673 to 1679, then was invested a Privy Councillor and appointed Secretary of State for the Northern Department in 1679; at the same time, he served as Ambassador Extraordinary to Paris.Kenyon p.23

Career under Charles II and James II

Although it has been said that he was by nature a Francophile, Sunderland worked hard to find other allies; in 1679-81 he seems to have planned a great anti-French alliance, involving all those European powers not already tied to France, but apart from a treaty with Spain in 1680, little came of it. The long tenure of Paul Barillon as Ambassador from Louis XIV between 1677 and 1688 produced many memorable exchanges between the two men, although Sunderland’s famous bad temper on at least one occasion caused Barillon to tell him to compose himself. When Louis failed to give any assistance against the Monmouth Rebellion Sunderland told Barillon sharply " the King your master may have plans I cannot discern, but I hope he will put things right by making it clear that this has all been a misunderstanding".Kenyon p.118 When Barillon protested that his master’s aim was " the Peace of Europe" Sunderland said that it was impossible for everyone in Europe to want peace at the same time: "myself I think it will last until one side or the other has a good reason for breaking it".Kenyon p.119 To prevent Barillon gaining too much influence, Sunderland intercepted and leaked an unusually indiscreet dispatch where the Ambassador boasted of having blocked an Anglo-Dutch treaty. Barillon was for a time forbidden the Court; Sunderland said uncharitably that if Barillon would play such tricks " it is but just that they come home to him."Kenyon p.40

Lord Sunderland also served as Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire during the minority of Lord Shrewsbury until 1681. That year, he was dismissed by Charles II, due to his opposition of the Duke of York’s succession; Charles was outraged by Sunderland’s vote for the Exclusion Bill, which he described as " the kiss of Judas".Kenyon p.66 Presently he regained the king’s confidence (through his mistress, the Duchess of Portsmouth). Intermittently, between 1682 and 1688, he served as Secretary of State for the Southern Department, Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire, and Lord President of the Council; in 1687, he signed the King’s grant of religious freedom for the Brenttown (Brenton) tract in Prince William County, Virginia, to encourage settlement of French Protestants. The same year he openly embraced the Roman Catholic faith to please the king. That year, he was also made a Knight of the Garter. However, while he enjoyed the confidence of Mary of Modena, it was clear that he was growing uncomfortable under the recently enthroned James: the violently hostile reception he got from the public when he gave evidence at the Trial of the Seven Bishops left him badly shaken. When he urged James to put away his mistress Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester James said crushingly that he had not realised that Sunderland was his confessor and told him in future to mind his own business. He was summarily dismissed in October 1688, with the remark, "You have your pardon; much good doe it you. I hope you will be more faithful to your next master than you have been to me."Kenyon p.226