Albemarle was educated in the Dutch province of
Gelderland, where the family originated. After returning to England in 1717, he was commissioned in the
Coldstream Foot Guards and succeeded his father as Earl of Albemarle in 1718. Over the next few years, he and a colleague
John Huske accompanied the
Earl of Cadogan in meetings with the Dutch over the
War of the Quadruple Alliance; financially exhausted by the
War of the Spanish Succession, they were anxious to avoid another. The
Treaty of The Hague was agreed in 1720, although negotiations continued with
Austria. Like his father, Albemarle appears to have had a talent for making powerful friends; his marriage in 1722 was held at Cadogan's house near
Caversham, outside Reading. He was also made
Lord of the Bedchamber to the future
George II, then Prince of Wales, a position he retained until 1751. The role provided proximity to the monarch; its holder was a trusted confidant and often extremely powerful. In 1737, he was appointed
Governor of Virginia, which he retained until his death, despite never setting foot in it. As was common, the administrative work was done by his deputy
Sir William Gooch, although the two frequently clashed over appointments.
Albemarle County, Virginia was named after him; it is better known as the location of
Monticello, the estate built by
Thomas Jefferson. Between 1713 and 1739, Britain was mostly at peace; Albemarle was Colonel of the
29th Regiment of Foot from 1731 to 1733 before transferring to the
Royal Horse Guards. As personal escorts to the king, they rarely left London but Albemarle commanded them at
Dettingen in 1743, when George II became the last British monarch to command troops in battle. He became Colonel of the
Coldstream Guards in 1744 and fought under the
Duke of Cumberland at
Fontenoy in April 1745. With the outbreak of the
1745 Jacobite Rising, Albemarle was sent to
Newcastle as deputy to the elderly
George Wade. He commanded the government front line at
Culloden in April 1746 and subsequently appointed
Commander-in-Chief, Scotland, despite referring to it as "this cursed country". He told the
Duke of Newcastle, then
Secretary of State for the Southern Department that "my predecessors have split against a sharp rock". The appointment of a senior and trusted subordinate reflected a widespread perception among both government officials and Jacobite rebels that another landing was imminent. The immediate focus was capturing the fugitive
Charles Stuart but despite a reward of £30,000, he evaded Albemarle's patrols and escaped to France in September. In 2018, previously unknown records from 1746 and 1747 were discovered in
Ipswich; these include intelligence reports on the search and details showing that after Culloden, Albemarle received a thousand guineas and the Prince's silver-gilt travelling canteen. With his headquarters in
Edinburgh, Albemarle divided Scotland into four military districts and carried out measures intended to bring the
Highlands under control. They included extending the
military road network begun in 1715 and placing permanent garrisons at key points, whose role was to enforce the 1746
Disarming and
Dress Acts. In February 1747, he was relieved as commander in Scotland and rejoined the army in Flanders, commanding the British infantry at
Lauffeld in July. Although this was a decisive French victory that effectively ended the
War of the Austrian Succession, his troops' disciplined fire helped the
Pragmatic Army make an orderly retreat. After the war ended with the
1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, he was sent to
Paris as
Ambassador, where he was a great success, entertaining on a lavish scale and sharing a mistress with
Giacomo Casanova. He was made a
Knight of the Garter in 1750, then a
Privy Counsellor the following year. Albemarle died aged 52 in Paris on 22 December 1754, returning home from a pre-Christmas supper; he was buried on 21 February 1755 in
Grosvenor Chapel on
South Audley Street in London. When his long-term colleague and friend John Huske died in 1761, he instructed his coffin be placed next to that of Albemarle. Notoriously extravagant, he died leaving nothing but debts, although his sons had successful careers; in 1740,
Augustus Keppel participated in
Anson's capture of the
Manila galleon, which made the officers wealthy men in their own right. In her biography of
Madame de Pompadour, the writer
Nancy Mitford remarks that given his love of all things French, it was a blessing Albemarle died before the
Seven Years' War broke out. She records that the French admired his love of life and wit; when a rapacious mistress admired the beauty of the stars, he replied that unfortunately, he was unable to buy them for her. ==Notes==