Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford
Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford, KG of Chenies in Buckinghamshire and of Bedford House in Exeter, Devon, was an English nobleman, soldier, and politician. He was a godfather to the Devon-born sailor Sir Francis Drake. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Devon (1584-5).
Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford
Francis Russell as a boy, by Hans Holbein the Younger, drawing in the Royal Collection
Chenies Manor House in the parish of Chenies in Buckinghamshire, England, is a Tudor Grade I listed building once known as Chenies Palace, although it was never a royal seat nor the seat of a bishop. It was held by the Cheney family since 1180 and passed by marriage successively to the Semark and Sapcote families and thence in 1526 to the Russell family, Earls of Bedford, later Dukes of Bedford, by whom it was held for several centuries. Although the Russells soon abandoned Chenies as its main seat in favour of Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire, Chenies parish church remains the site of the private "Bedford Chapel", the mausoleum still in use by that family.
Chenies Manor House
Chenies Manor House, showing the modern driveway approach from the east.
John Russell, first Earl of Bedford
Chenies, south western corner, viewed from the south. At left is the oldest surviving part of the building; at right is the south facade showing its lack of windows
