Mary Capell, Countess of Essex

Mary Capell, Countess of Essex, born Lady Mary Bentinck, was the daughter of William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland, a Dutch and English nobleman who became in an early stage the favourite of stadtholder William, Prince of Orange and his wife Anne Villiers.
Mary is one of the Hampton Court Beauties who was painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller for Queen Mary II. Despite sharing a surname, Mary's aunt, Barbara Villiers, Viscountess FitzHarding was not the renowned courtesan and Windsor Beauty the Duchess of Cleveland, although there is a relation; the Duchess of Cleveland was Mary's first cousin once removed through her mother, Anne Villiers. Nevertheless, Barbara Villiers was painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller.

Family

Lady Mary's maternal grandparents were Sir Edward Villiers and Lady Frances Howard, daughter of the 2nd Earl of Suffolk and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Home, daughter of the 1st Earl of Dunbar. Through her grandfather, Sir Edward Villiers, she descended from Sir Oliver St. John and Margaret Beauchamp, mother to Lady Margaret Beaufort. Lady Mary's paternal grandparents were Bernard Bentinck, 6th Baron Bentinck of the Netherlands, a descendant of an ancient and noble family of Guelders and Overijssel, and his wife Anne van Bloemendale.

Marriages

Lady Mary married twice.
On 28 February 1692, she married Lt.-Gen. Algernon Capel, 2nd Earl of Essex. The couple had three children.

William Capell, 3rd Earl of Essex, married twice.
Lady Mary Capel, married Alan Brodrick, 2nd Viscount Midleton, had issue.
Lady Elizabeth Capell. She married twice,

On 2 August 1714, she married Rt. Hon. Sir Conyers Darcy, son of Hon. John Darcy and Bridget Sutton. The marriage was childless.

Titles

1679 – 28 February 1698: Lady Mary Bentinck
28 February 1698 – 10 January 1710: Mary Capell, Countess of Essex
10 January 1710 – 2 August 1714: Mary Capell, Dowager Countess of Essex
2 August 1714 – 20 August 1726: Lady Mary Darcy