George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon
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The Right Honourable The Earl of Clarendon KG GCB PC |
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| Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster | |
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In office 31 October 1840 – 23 June 1841 |
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| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | Viscount Melbourne |
| Preceded by | The Lord Holland |
| Succeeded by | Sir George Grey, Bt |
| President of the Board of Trade | |
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In office 6 July 1846 – 22 July 1847 |
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| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | Lord John Russell |
| Preceded by | The Marquess of Dalhousie |
| Succeeded by | Henry Labouchere |
| Lord Lieutenant of Ireland | |
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In office 1847 – 1 March 1852 |
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| Monarch | Queen Victoria |
| Prime Minister | Lord John Russell |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Bessborough |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Eglinton |
| Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs | |
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In office 21 February 1853 – 26 February 1858 |
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| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister |
The Earl of Aberdeen Viscount Palmerston |
| Preceded by | Lord John Russell |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Malmesbury |
| Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster | |
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In office 7 April 1864 – 3 November 1865 |
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| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister |
Viscount Palmerston The Earl Russell |
| Preceded by | Edward Cardwell |
| Succeeded by | George Goschen |
| Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs | |
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In office 3 November 1865 – 6 July 1866 |
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| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | The Earl Russell |
| Preceded by | The Earl Russell |
| Succeeded by | Lord Stanley |
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In office 9 December 1868 – 27 June 1870 |
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| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | William Ewart Gladstone |
| Preceded by | Lord Stanley |
| Succeeded by | The Earl Granville |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
12 January 1800 London |
| Died |
27 June 1870 (aged 70) London |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouse(s) | Lady Katherine Grimston (1810–1874) |
| Alma mater | St John's College, Cambridge |
George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon KG GCB PC (12 January 1800 – 27 June 1870), was an English diplomat and statesman from the Villiers family.
Villiers was born in London, the son of the Honourable George Villiers and Theresa Parker. He went up to Cambridge at the early age of sixteen and entered St John's College on 29 June 1816. In 1820, as the eldest son of an earl's brother with royal descent, he was able to take his M.A. degree under the statutes of the university then in force.
In the same year, he was appointed attaché to the British embassy at Saint Petersburg. There he remained three years, and gained that practical knowledge of diplomacy which was of so much use to him in later life. He had received from nature a singularly handsome person, a polished and engaging address, a ready command of languages, and a remarkable power of composition.
Upon his return to England in 1823, he was appointed to a commissionership of customs, an office which he retained for about ten years. In 1831, he was despatched to France to negotiate a commercial treaty, which however was fruitless. On 16 August 1833, he was appointed minister at the court of Spain. Ferdinand VII died within a month of his arrival at Madrid, and the infant queen Isabella, then in the third year of her age, was placed on her contested throne, based on the old Spanish custom of female inheritance. Don Carlos, the late king's brother, claimed the crown by virtue of the Salic law of the House of Bourbon which Ferdinand had renounced before the birth of his daughter. Isabella II and her mother Christina, the queen regent, became the representatives of constitutional monarchy, Don Carlos of Catholic absolutism. The conflict which had divided the despotic and the constitutional powers of Europe since the French Revolution of 1830 broke out into civil war in Spain, and by the Quadruple Treaty, signed on 22 April 1834, France and England pledged themselves to the defence of the constitutional thrones of Spain and Portugal. For six years Villiers continued to give the most active and intelligent support to the Liberal government of Spain. He was accused, though unjustly, of having favoured the revolution of La Granja, which drove Christina, the queen mother, out of the kingdom, and raised Espartero to the regency. He undoubtedly supported the chiefs of the Liberal party, such as Espartero, against the intrigues of the French court; but the object of the British government was to establish the throne of Isabella on a truly national and liberal basis and to avert those complications, dictated by foreign influence, which eventually proved so fatal to that princess.
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