Favourite
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In history and politics, a favourite was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In post-classical and early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of indi
Equestrian portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares by Diego Velázquez (c. 1636)
The Duke of Buckingham by the workshop of Rubens (1617–1628)
Cardinal Richelieu, one of the most successful from the golden age of the favourite (1642)
Prince Grigory Potemkin
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester was an English statesman and the favourite of Elizabeth I from her accession until his death. He was a suitor for the queen's hand for many years.
Favourite
…be even more sudden, but after about 1650, executions tended to give way to quiet retirement. Favourites who came from the higher nobility, such as Leicester, Lerma, Olivares, and Oxenstierna, were often less resented and lasted longer. Successful minister-favourites also usually needed networks of their own…
c. 1564 portrait
Elizabeth's coronation procession: Dudley is on horseback on the far left, leading the palfrey of honour.
Dudley c. 1560
Lord Leicester. An 18th-century copy of his portrait and autograph