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George Villiers ( August 28 , 1592 – August 23 , 1628 ), 1st Duke Of Buckingham of the second creation ( 1623 ) of that title by James I , was a favourite of King James I Of England , and one of the most rewarded royal courtiers in all history. He was born in Brooksby , Leicestershire , the son of the minor noble Sir George Villiers. As a youth he was noted for his vigour and became a regular at the royal court in 1614 . Following Villiers introduction to James during the King's progress of that year, the King is said by his enemies to have fallen deeply in love with him, calling Villiers his 'sweet child and wife' and to have written: "I naturally so love your person, and adore all your other parts, which are more than ever one man had" and "I desire only to live in the world for your sake". Villiers gained support from those opposed to the existing favourite, Robert Carr, Earl Of Somerset . When Carr was disgraced after the Overbury affair, his position was rapidly taken by Villiers. Under the King's patronage he prospered greatly. Villiers was knighted in 1615 as a Gentleman of the Bedchamber, and became an earl in 1617 , marquess in 1618 and duke in 1623 : the first commoner to be elevated to a dukedom in more than a century. He married the daughter of Francis Manners, 6th Earl Of Rutland , Katherine Manners , later ''suo jure'' Baroness De Ros , on May 16 , 1620 despite the objections of her father. Villiers was happy to grant valuable royal monopolies to her family. Parliament began an investigation into misuse of the monopolies in 1621 and Villiers was quick to side with Parliament to avoid action being taken against him. In February 1623 James made Villiers the Duke Of Buckingham . Buckingham accompanied Prince Charles to Spain for marriage negotiations regarding the Infanta Maria . The negotiations had long been stuck but it is believed that Buckingham's crassness was key to the total collapse of agreement; the Spanish ambassador asked Parliament to have Buckingham executed for his behaviour in Madrid ; but Buckingham gained popularity by calling for war with Spain on his return. He headed further marriage negotiations but when in 1624 the betrothal to Henrietta Maria of France was announced the choice of a Catholic was widely condemned. Buckingham's popularity suffered further when he was blamed for the failure of the Von Mansfeld expedition to recover the Palatinate ( 1625 ). But when Charles became king Buckingham was the only man to maintain his position from the court of James. Buckingham led an expedition to repeat the actions of Sir Francis Drake ; seize the main Spanish port at Cádiz and burn the fleet in its harbour. Though his plan was tactically sound, landing further up the coast and marching the militia army on the city, the troops were ill equipped, ill disciplined and ill trained. Coming upon a warehouse filled with wine, they simply got drunk, and the attack was called off. The English army briefly occupied a small port further down the coast, before taking back to ship. This was followed by Buckingham leading the army and the navy to sea, to intercept an anticipated Spanish silver fleet from Mexico and Spanish Latin America . This never materialised and with supplies running out, the fleet limped home embarrassed, with its men starving and diseased. Buckingham then negotiated with the then French regent, Cardinal Richelieu , for English ships to aid Richelieu in his fight against the French Protestants ( Huguenot s), in return for French aid against the Spanish occupying the Palatinate. This aid never materialised, and Parliament was disgusted and horrified at English Protestants fighting French Protestants. It only fuelled their fears of crypto-Catholicism at Court. When Parliament attempted to Impeach him for the failure of the Cádiz expedition (1625), Charles had the house dissolved in August before they could put Buckingham on trial. This prompted Buckingham to declare war on France, taking him into conflict with Hapsburg Austria, France and Spain, the three most powerful Catholic nations in Europe. In 1627 Buckingham then led another failure to try to aid the Huguenots besieged at La Rochelle , losing over 4000 men out of a force of 7000. While organising a second attempt he was killed at Portsmouth by John Felton , a naval officer who held a personal grudge against him. Felton was hanged in November and Buckingham was buried in Westminster Abbey . His tomb bears the inscription: 'The Enigma of the World', a possibly suitable epitaph for the most successful royal favourite of all time. A fictionalized Buckingham is one of the characters in Alexander Dumas ' '' The Three Musketeers '', which paints him as a lover of Anne Of Austria and deals with his assassination by Felton. He is also a central character in a novel by Philippa Gregory, ''Earthly Joys''. Buckingham's daughter Mary Villiers-Stuart was the wife of the Royalist James Stewart, 1st Duke Of Richmond . This James was the grandson of Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke Of Lennox who was of the Lennox line (prominent in the Auld Alliance as Seigneur s d'Aubigny) of the Royal Stuarts, as was King James I Of England because of his grandfather Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl Of Lennox . REFERENCES
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