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Saint-Leger Family


Charles Rex
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Sir Robert Saint-Leger

Full Name: Sir Robert Saint-Leger

Nationality: English

Title: Earl of Brooke, Viscount Beverley, Baron Ulcombe of Kent

Estate Name: Leeds Castle, Kent

Age: 63 (b. November 1614)

Gender: Male

Height: 5'9''

Eye Color: Hazel

Hair Color: Brown

Marital Status: Married

Position: Lord Deputy of Ireland, Privy Councillor

Residence while in London: Brooke House (on Pall Mall)

 

The First Impression & Physical Appearance

 

Lord Brooke is still rather agile for his older age, without a large belly or visible ailments. When he's not wearing a dark brown periwig, his hair is still brown with a scattering of grey, and his eyes seem a warm, deep hazel most of the time.

 

Personality

 

Lord Brooke is what most would just consider a warm and traditional older gentleman and statesman. He definitely has that rigidity of propriety and since the Saint-Legers are old blood, they definitely harbor feelings of superiority, keeping that detached sort of aloofness around their social inferiors or those with newer titles. It is clear in their court dealings that they have and always will 'play the long game' of politics, not taking as many risk as 'newer' families or parvenus, relying on strategy, coin, and negotiation to firmly entrench themselves instead of reaching too high.

 

Background

 

The Saint-Leger family was noble in France for centuries before the Norman Invasion which brought the current English Saint-Leger's to England. Boasting in their line a martyred bishop, numerous crusading knights, a holy stigmatic, a signer of the Magna Carta, and the statesman who had brought Ireland to the crown for Henry VIII, the family is well-known as old nobility. They have significant historic influence in Kent, a strategic standpoint between London and port cities in the South, where the Saint-Legers preside over Maidstone and hold the large, garrisoned, and fortified castle there.

 

The Saint-Legers are secretly Catholic and have been since the days of Henry VIII, when the family took the first required oaths by the King. The current gentlemen of the family all make the required appearances at Anglican masses and have taken the oaths for the most recent Test Act.

 

Brooke was married to his wife very young, and they had a very hard time producing healthy children despite many, many pregnancies. It was not until well into their thirties that they managed to have their eldest, the daughter Annie (widowed now as Baroness Doneraile), and not until forty that they managed to have a viable heir to the earldom, [[Robert St. Leger]], Lord Beverley. Brooke spent most of his life at court both in England and, to a lesser extent, Ireland. Royalists, Brooke commanded a regiment of horse in the Civil War, fighting with Prince Rupert.

 

Affluent, Brooke sent the King a considerable amount of money to help fund his exile, keeping much safe in Ireland until they had to flee from there to France as well.

 

After the Restoration, Brooke was reinstated to the family's old position as Lord Deputy of Ireland, an honorarium from the crown to the family after their 16th century part in bringing to Irish barons to the crown of England. He is loyal to his King and, along with Ormonde, urges Irish Catholics to be quiet and display obedience to His Majesty which is in their best interests.

 

Brooke is a member of the Woolsack. He also secretly helped fund Madame Hortense's brothel, and she is his long-time mistress.

 

Family

 

  • Son: Robert St. Leger, Lord Beverley, Major & Aide to Prince Rupert [PC]
  • Wife: Margaret Le Despencer (not related to Spencers), 10th Baroness Fairlight.
  • Daughter: Anne St. Leger, Lady (baroness) Doneraile, Ireland
  • Daughter-in-law: Mary Somerset Saint-Leger, daughter of the Marquess of Worcester

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Margaret Saint-Leger

Full Name: Margaret Saint-Leger (nee Le Despencer)

Nationality: Anglo-Norman

Title: Baroness Fairlight in her own right

Estate Name:

Age: 62

Gender: Female

Height: 5'11''

Marital Status: Married

Other Residence: Maidstone in Kent, a large fortified castle on the River Len

 

Personality

Very proper by nature, she enjoys gossip but steers clear of unseemly topics for the fairer sex, like politics. More on the demure side, she knows how to passively use her feminine ways on her husband. She is very maternal and loving, kind to all, but is private about her own life.

 

In her private life, she is quite concerned about God and faith and follows the lead of Brooke dutifully. She hates anything lewd, and she fully believes there is no such thing as sex outside of marriage, especially not in regard to her precious son. She enjoys reading, and she enjoys Beverley reading to her even more. Having her three grandsons just a few miles down the Thames (instead of in Ireland where they were before their father did) and often staying with them reminds her of the sweeter, younger times with Beverley.

 

Background

From an old Catholic, Norman family, Margaret was married to Brooke very, very young. He was an only son and the pressure on them to secure the future with an heir started from early on. Their union was purely one of advancing the family, he being very wealthy, and she bringing a barony into the match. They have always at least put on the proper front of loving each other and probably do love each other. Both she and Brooke have always been Catholic although they go through the motions of being Anglican publicly. Beverley & Brooke both go to masses of the state religion with acceptable frequency and both took the first Test oath. She gets along very well with her husband and thinks him generally mild and kind.

 

Hobbies

Loves horse-riding, and designing her garden.

 

Others

Polly: Margret has a saucy maid who lusts for Beverly.

Mrs Bartlett: A neighbor down the street.

 

Family

  • Husband: Sir Robert Thomas Saint-Leger, 8th Earl Brooke, 9th Viscount Beverley, 14th Baron Ulcombe of Kent, Lord Deputy of Ireland (63).
  • Daughter: Anne Saint-Leger (24ish)
  • Son: Robert Saint-Leger [PC]
  • Daughter-in-law: Mary Somerset Saint-Leger, daughter of the Marquess of Worcester

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Mary Somerset Saint-Leger

Full Name: Mary Somerset Saint-Leger

Nationality: English

Title: Lady Beverley (as wife of Viscount Beverley)

Age: 15 (b. 1662)

Gender: Female

Marital Status: Married

Eye Color: Brown

Hair Color: Brown

 

Personality

 

Background

Daughter of Henry Somerset, Marquess Worcester, and Mary Somerset, widow of Seymour (nee Capell). Half sister to Elisabeth Killington.

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Anne Saint-Leger

Background

 

Daughter of the the Earl of Brooke and his wife.

 

She married a Saint-Leger cousin who was in his 40s when she was about 16, and she bore him 3 surviving sons. He died last year (1676) and Brooke and Beverley went to fetch her and the boys. Right now she stays much of the time in Battersea, which is a few miles up the Thames just past Chelsea, and she hopes her father doesn’t try to marry her off again. She does attend court events. Brooke is the administrator of her eldest son’s estate (he’s only 8) and the guardian of all three. They stay with Annie and oft come on Sundays.

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