New Home Secretary is blue blood of Cabinet
SHE is one of the more well-heeled members of the Cabinet and famously acted as ‘aristocracy co-ordinator’ for the hit film Four Weddings And A Funeral.
But now it can be revealed that new Home Secretary Amber Rudd is a direct descendant of King Charles II and his mistress, Barbara Palmer.
The couple had five children before Palmer was usurped by the infamous Nell Gwynn. They established a line that, eight generations later, produced Ms Rudd’s mother, Ethne.
Palmer, known for her extravagance, beauty, foul temper and promiscuity, had more influence in court than Charles’s Queen, Catherine, and was officially appointed Lady of the Bedchamber.
Diarist Samuel Pepys noted ‘I know well enough she is a whore’ but wrote admiringly of her. However, fellow diarist John Evelyn called her ‘the curse of the nation’.
The King acknowledged five of Palmer’s children as his own, including Ms Rudd’s ancestor Anne – and Henry FitzRoy, whose descendants include the late Diana, Princess of Wales, and therefore Princes William and Harry too.
Other descendants of Palmer include Sarah, Duchess of York, the Mitford sisters, philosopher Bertrand Russell and former Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden.
Peerage expert Michael Rhodes wrote that this ‘colourful Royal history’ makes Ms Rudd distantly related to the Queen.
‘She does have quite a rich pedigree,’ he added.
Although Ms Rudd is likely to be the most aristocratic member of the Cabinet, she is some way behind David Cameron, who is the Queen’s fifth cousin, twice removed.