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The Protestant Edward Villiers was appointed by King William III to replace the Catholic Earl of Peterborough as Colonel of the 3rd Horse on 31st Dec 1688. He was the heir to George Villiers, 4th Viscount Grandison of Limerick but he died on 19 Jan 1694. He had served in the Life Guards and commanded a brigade of cavalry at Sedgemoor. He won William's confidence by his cool handling of the the royal guard at Whitehall when James fled London.
He married divorcee Katherine FitzGerald who owned the estate at Dromana, co Waterford. She had been forced into her first marriage in 1673 by her uncle when she was 12 years old. Her husband, John Power was only eight. At the age of 16 she eloped with Edward Villiers. She annulled her child marriage but entered a long lawsuit with the Power family for ownership of Dromana in County Waterford. This was eventually settled in her favour. Katherine and Edward had 3 daughters and 2 sons, one of whom was John FitzGerald Villiers who became the 1st Earl of Grandison in 1721. She remarried after Edward's death. |
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