Henry FitzJames

Henry FitzJames (6 August 1673 – 16 December 1702), titular 1st Duke of Albemarle in the Jacobite peerage, was the illegitimate son of King James II of England and VII of Scotland by Arabella Churchill, sister of the first Duke of Marlborough.

Life

FitzJames was born in St. James's Square, Westminster, then in the county of Middlesex, England. He was the brother of James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, the French Marshal. He was also the brother of Henrietta FitzJames

On 20 July 1700, he married Marie Gabrielle d'Audibert de Lussan, daughter and heiress of Jean d'Audibert, Comte de Lussan and Marie Françoise Raimond. He had a posthumous daughter, Lady Christine Marie Jacqueline Henriette FitzJames, born 29 May 1703 at Bagnols sur Cèze, Languedoc, France, who became a nun. His widow remarried in May 1707, at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, to John Drummond, Marquess of Forth, later 2nd Duke of Melfort (1682–1754).

Unrecognized title

FitzJames was created Duke of Albemarle, together with the subsidiary titles of Earl of Rochford and Baron Romney, by his father on 13 January 1696, but the title is only recognized by Jacobites. He was also appointed the Grand Prior of the revived Priory of the English Commandery of the Sovereign Military Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta, known as the Knights of Malta.

Ancestry