STUDIO OF WILLEM WISSING (AMSTERDAM 1656-1687 BURGHLEY HOUSE)

Laurence Hyde, originally a supporter of James II and subsequently of the Glorious Revolution, was made 1st Earl of Rochester of the second creation in 1682 after a period as Master of the Robes to Louis XIV between 1662 and 1675 and then election to the new English parliament as member for Wootton Bassett in 1679. James tried unsuccessfully to convert Rochester to Catholicism, though he was open to Catholic rights being voted back as long as his own position and standing remained untouched. He later became advisor in ecclesiastical matters to Queen Mary, and the final years of his public life were mainly passed in championing the interests of the Church. In his private life Rochester was loyal and affectionate. Second son of Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon and his second wife, Frances Aylesbury, he was uncle to both Queen Mary and Queen Anne through his sister Anne, wife of James II. He himself married Lady Henrietta Boyle, daughter of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Burlington, one of the Windsor beauties painted by Sir Peter Lely. Together they had four children, Henry, later 4th Earl of Clarendon and 2nd Earl of Rochester, Anne, Mary and Henrietta. The latter being described by John Evelyn as 'the wittiest of her sex'.