Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG, PC was an English nobleman and a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years' War in 1599. In 1601, he led an abortive coup d'état against the government of Elizabeth I and was executed for treason.
The 2nd Earl of Essex, by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger
Melancholy youth representing the Earl of Essex, c.1588, miniature by Nicholas Hilliard
Frances Walsingham, Countess of Essex, and her son Robert by Robert Peake the elder, 1594
Portrait by Marcus Gheeraerts, c. 1597
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 individuals delegated significant political power by a ruler. It was especially a phenomenon of the 16th and 17th centuries, when government had become too complex for many hereditary rulers with no great interest in or talent for it, and political institutions were still evolving. From 1600 to 1660 there were particular successions of all-powerful minister-favourites in much of Europe, particularly in Spain, England, France and Sweden.
Equestrian portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares by Diego Velázquez.
The Duke of Buckingham by the workshop of Rubens
Cardinal Richelieu, one of the most successful from the golden age of the favourite
Prince Grigory Potemkin