This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2007)

Barbara Palmer with her son Charles as the Madonna and child by Sir Peter Lely

Charles Palmer, later FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Cleveland and 1st Duke of Southampton (18 June 1662–9 September 1730), styled Lord Limerick before 1670 and Earl of Southampton between 1670 and 1675, was the eldest son of Barbara Palmer, Countess of Castlemaine (née Barbara Villiers, later 1st Duchess of Cleveland) and the illegitimate son of King Charles II of England and Scotland. As the putative son of Roger Palmer, 1st Earl of Castlemaine, his nominal father, he was styled Lord Limerick from birth. His birth marked the separation of his parents; Lord Castlemaine, a Roman Catholic, had him christened into the Roman Catholic faith, but six days later the King had him re-christened into the Church of England.

In 1670, at the age of eight, he was betrothed to Mary Wood, daughter of Sir Henry Wood, Clerk of the Green Cloth, but with the proviso that the marriage be delayed until Mary turned 16. Following the death of her father, the Duchess of Cleveland more-or-less abducted Mary, with the intention of bringing her up with her own children. He had no children of this marriage but had from his second marriage to Anne Pulteney.

In 1670 he was created Duke of Southampton and upon the death of his mother in 1709 he became 2nd Duke of Cleveland, by a special remainder in the Dukedom which allowed it to pass to him, even though he was illegitimate. He died aged 68.

[edit] Ancestry