Melusina von der Schulenburg, Countess of Walsingham

Petronilla Melusina von der Schulenburg, Countess of Walsingham, Countess of Chesterfield (1 April 1693 – 16 September 1778) was the natural daughter of King George I of Great Britain and his longtime mistress, Melusine von der Schulenburg, Duchess of Kendal.

Biography

In 1722, Melusina was created Baroness Aldborough and Countess of Walsingham as a life peer. After the death of her father in 1727, she lived mainly with her mother at Kendal House in Isleworth.

In Isleworth, Middlesex, on 5 September 1733 Melusina married Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, a leading Whig politician. The couple had no children, but it is said that "family letters" suggest that Melusina may have been the mother, through an intimacy with Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, of Benedict Swingate Calvert. Calvert was born in England in around 1730–32, the illegitimate son of Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore. His mother's identity is otherwise unknown.

References

Bibliography

• Washington, George Sydney Horace Lee, p. 176, "The Royal Stuarts in America" New England Historical and Genealogical Register (July 1950).

1. Benedict Swingate Calvert
2. Schulenburg (surname)
3. Royal bastard
4. Walsingham (surname)
5. Benedict Calvert, 4th Baron Baltimore
6. Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore
7. Mary Anna Custis Lee
8. George Washington Parke Custis
9. Melusine (disambiguation)
10. List of life peerages before 1876
11. 1693
12. George I of Great Britain
13. Countess of Chesterfield
14. 1690s
15. Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
16. List of peers 1750–1759
17. List of peers 1740–1749
18. List of peers 1760–1769
19. List of peers 1770–1779
20. List of peers 1730–1739