Portrait of Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington (1618-1685), full-length, in Garter robes, with the rod and key of the Lord Chamberlain

The sitter served in the royalist army in the Civil War and it was in the skirmish of Andover that he received the wound to his nose which remained visible throughout his life. During the war he left England and travelled in France and Italy. Arlington was in contact with the royal family during their residence in Flanders and returned with King Charles II after the Restoration. He was created a Knight of the Garter in 1672 and Lord Chamberlain in 1674. He married Isabella von Beverweert, the daughter of Louis of Nassau, who was also painted by Lely, and had by her a daughter, Isabella Bennet, who married Henry Fitzroy, 1st Duke of Grafton.