Frances Villiers, Countess of Jersey

Frances Villiers, Countess of Jersey (25 February 1753, St James's – 23 July 1821, Cheltenham) was one of the more notorious of the many mistresses of King George IV when he was Prince of Wales, "a scintillating society woman, a heady mix of charm, beauty, and sarcasm". Through marriage she belonged to the Villiers family.

She was born Frances Twysden, second and posthumous daughter of the Rev. Dr Philip Twysden (c.1714–52), Bishop of Raphoe (1746–1752) (died 2 November 1752, allegedly shot while attempting to rob a stagecoach in London) and his second wife Frances Carter (later wife of General Johnston), daughter of Thomas Carter of Castlemartin, Master of the Rolls.

Her disreputable-in-death father was third son of Sir William Twysden, 5th Baronet of Roydon Hall, East Peckham, Kent, by his wife and second cousin Jane Twisden. The Twysden family was convincingly traced from one Roger Twysden living around 1400.

Barely a month past her 17th birthday, she married the 34-year-old new (4th) Earl of Jersey, George Villiers, son and heir of William Villiers, 3rd Earl of Jersey and his wife Lady Anne Egerton who, the year before, had been appointed a Gentleman of the Bedchamber to King George III.

Her husband was appointed Master of Horse to the Prince of Wales in 1795.

The future George IV began his affair with Lady Jersey, then a 40-year-old grandmother and mother of ten, in 1793. She was also romantically involved with other members of the English , including Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle. It was not until 1794 that she lured the Prince of Wales away from his "wife", Maria Fitzherbert, with whom he had undergone a form of marriage in a clandestine Church of England ceremony that all parties to it knew was invalid under the Royal Marriages Act 1772.

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