Sir Charles Cotterell

Sir Charles Cotterell (7 April 1615 – 7 June 1701), was an English courtier and translator.

Cotterell was knighted in 1644, and appointed master of ceremonies to the court of King Charles I in 1641, a post that he held until the execution of Charles in 1649. During the first years of the English Interregnum from 1649 until 1652 he resided in Antwerp. From 1652 until 1654 he was steward at the Hague to Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia. In 1655 he entered the service of Henry, Duke of Gloucester as secretary a post he held until the Restoration in 1660. In 1660 he was appointed master of ceremonies under Charles II a position he held until 1686. In 1670 he was appointed master of requests a position he also held until 1686.

In addition to his court appointments Cotterell was a member of the Cavalier Parliament in which he represented the constituency of Cardigan from 1663 until 1678, and a translator of French romances and histories and of The spiritual Year a Spanish devotional tract.

Cotterell was born on 7 April 1615 in Wilsford, Lincolnshire, England. He is the son of Sir Clement Cotterell (1585–1631) and Anne Alleyne (d. 1660). Sir Clement was appointed as muster-master of Buckinghamshire in 1616 and groom-porter to James I in 1619, and was knighted in 1620.

Cotterell attended Queens' College, Cambridge in 1629. He completed one more year at university but did not proceed to any degree. In June 1632 he began touring Europe with aristocratic friends. On his second tour the death of Charles of Pembroke resulted in an early return to England and the enlistment of Cotterell to Charles' father's service in 1636. Cotterell served the Earl of Pembroke under courtly and military service until he was knighted in Oxford in 1645.

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