William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland
Dutch and English nobleman (1649-1709)
William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland (Dutch: Hans Willem Bentinck; 20 July 1649 – 23 November 1709) was a Dutch-born British courtier and diplomat who became in an early stage the favourite of William, Prince of Orange, Stadtholder in the Netherlands, and future King of England. He was reportedly steady, sensible, modest and usually moderate. The friendship and cooperation stopped in 1699.
Biography
Early life and nurse to Prince William
Hans Willem was born in Diepenheim, Overijssel, the son of Bernard, Baron Bentinck, and was descended from an ancient and noble family of Guelders and Overijssel. He was appointed first page of honour and chamberlain. When, in 1675, Prince William was attacked by smallpox, his physicians suggested he sleep with one of his pages to absorb "animal spirits" from a young, healthy body. Bentinck was the page and he nursed the prince assiduously back to health. This devotion secured for him the special and enduring friendship of William. From that point on, Bentinck had the Prince's confidence, and in their correspondence, William was very open.
Communicator
In 1677 he was sent to England to solicit for Prince William the hand of Mary Stuart, daughter of James, Duke of York and future King of England.
“William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland” enters the record as dutch and English nobleman (1649-1709). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what William, Bentinck and Earl can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.