Robert Howard (royalist)

Sir Robert Howard
Born	1585
Died	22 April 1653
Noble family	House of Howard
Spouse(s)	Catherine Neville
Father	Thomas Howard, first earl of Suffolk
Mother	Catherine

Sir Robert Howard KB (1585 – 22 April 1653) was an English landowner, member of parliament, and Royalist soldier. He was involved in a scandal when his mistress Frances Coke, Viscountess Purbeck, was found guilty of adultery and was twice summoned to explain her pregnancy with a son to the Court of High Commission. During the English Civil War, Howard was in command of the defence of Bridgnorth Castle when it surrendered to the Parliamentarians in 1646.

Robert Howard was the fifth son of Thomas Howard, first earl of Suffolk by his second wife, Catherine. He was uncle to the playwright Sir Robert Howard and brother of Theophilus, the second earl of Suffolk, Thomas, Earl of Berkshire and of Edward, Lord Howard of Escrick.

In 1626, on the death of Howard's elder brother, Sir Charles Howard of Clun, Howard inherited Clun Castle in Shropshire. He was the next heir under the Will of his great-uncle, the Earl of Nottingham.

Howard had a long affair with the estranged wife of Sir John Villiers, Viscount Purbeck. She was Frances Villiers, the daughter of Sir Edward Coke, and it was said she had been forced into the marriage with John who was the brother of George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham at the age of sixteen.

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