George Villiers Time Line

Born Aug 28th, 1592 at Brooksby, Leicestershire. 1614-1619 George Villiers completed his education in France and was introduced at the court of James I in August 1614 he immediately impressed the King. He several achievements and gained several titles in his time, these included: He became Master of the Horse in 1616, Earl of Buckingham in 1617, A Marquess in 1618 and Lord High Admiral in 1619. He used his influence to help his relatives gain wealth and status...which did not go down well with the rest of the upper classes! 1620 He married Lady Katherine Manners, daughter of the Earl of Rutland - a Roman Catholic. 1623 He accompanied James' son Charles (not yet King) to Madrid in Spain to arrange a marriage between Charles and Maria, the daughter of the Spanish King, but his display of arrogance contributed to the failure of the negotiations. Returning to London he was made a Duke and persuaded James to go to war with Spain with the backing of Parliament, therefore he was classed as hero. 1625 The marriage that Buckingham had arranged between Charles and Henrietta Maria of France failed to bring peace with France, and raised the possibility of Roman Catholics coming to the Royal line which made him very unpopular. He arranged a naval and land expedition against Cadiz, the Spanish port which turned out to be an embarrassing failure! 1626 A bill to impeach the Duke was brought before parliament in May 1626 but he was saved by King Charles dissolving parliament before he could be tried. The case was brought before the Royal Court instead where the case was dismissed. 1627 Buckingham led 8000 men to the French port of La Rochelle to help the Huguenots (French protestants) who were under attack. He was eventually forced to withdraw, another embarrassing defeat. 1628 Parliament tried to get the King to dismiss Buckingham, but the King was very supportive of his friend. On Aug 17th he went to Portsmouth to arrange another expedition to La Rochelle, but on the 22nd he was stabbed to death by a naval lieutenant John Felton.