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Lot Essay
Edward Henry Lee was the son of Sir Francis Henry Lee, 4th Bt., and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas, 2nd Earl of Downe. In 1674, Lee married Lady Charlotte Fitzroy, the illegitimate daughter of King Charles II and his mistress Barbara, Duchess of Cleveland. A dedicated Royalist, between 1686 and 1688 he was Colonel of the 12th Foot Regiment (later the Suffolk Regiment); commanded the Duke of Norfolk's Regiment of Horse; and was Colonel of the 1st Foot Guards. He was created Baron Spelsbury, Viscount Quarendon and Earl of the City of Lichfield in June 1674, and was appointed one of the Lords of the Bedchamber to King James II, High Steward for the Borough of Woodstock and Lord Lieutenant of Woodstock Park. He retired from office when King James II left England, and was one of the few peers who accompanied the King to Rochester. Lee died at Greenwich in July 1716 and was buried at Spelsbury.
This portrait is believed to have descended in the sitter's family at Ditchley Park. Ditchley Park was built by the sitter's son, George Henry Lee, 2nd Earl of Lichfield, in 1722 to a design by James Gibbs, architect of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and with interiors by William Kent and Henry Flitcroft. When the 4th Earl died in 1776, the estate passed to his niece, Lady Charlotte Lee, who had married the 11th Viscount Dillon, an Irish Peer. The 17th Viscount Dillon died in 1932 and the estate was sold to Ronald Tree. A Conservative Member of Parliament between 1933 and 1945, Tree sided with Churchill against Chamberlain's stance on Hitler's foreign policy, and entertained Churchill at Ditchley in 1937, 1940 and 1942.
This portrait is believed to have descended in the sitter's family at Ditchley Park. Ditchley Park was built by the sitter's son, George Henry Lee, 2nd Earl of Lichfield, in 1722 to a design by James Gibbs, architect of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and with interiors by William Kent and Henry Flitcroft. When the 4th Earl died in 1776, the estate passed to his niece, Lady Charlotte Lee, who had married the 11th Viscount Dillon, an Irish Peer. The 17th Viscount Dillon died in 1932 and the estate was sold to Ronald Tree. A Conservative Member of Parliament between 1933 and 1945, Tree sided with Churchill against Chamberlain's stance on Hitler's foreign policy, and entertained Churchill at Ditchley in 1937, 1940 and 1942.