George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
by SOMER, Paulus van, Oil on wood, 75 x 87 cm
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham (1592-1628) was an English courtier, statesman, and patron of the arts. He was the favourite and possibly also the lover of King James I of England. Despite a patchy political and military record, Buckingham remained at the height of royal favour for the first three years of King Charles I’s reign, until a disgruntled army officer assassinated him.
George Villiers is one of the central characters in Alexandre Dumas’s novel The Three Musketeers, where he is called the Duke of Buckingham or simply Buckingham.
Today, he is buried in Westminster Abbey, next to the tomb of King James I. He was the first person not belonging to the royal family to be buried in Westminster.