Buckingham, Duke of (1592-1628), an English nobleman, was the real ruler of England during the later years of King James I‘s reign, which ended in 1625, and from 1625 to 1628 under King Charles I. His given and family name was George Villiers. Although a royal favorite, he was extremely unpopular. He failed on several military expeditions, and, after his unsuccessful naval expedition to the Spanish seaport of Cádiz in 1625, he was impeached (charged with wrongdoing). Charles I saved him from death, however. On Aug. 23, 1628, during Buckingham’s return from a failed military expedition to France, he was assassinated by John Felton, a discontented army officer.
Buckingham was born on Aug. 28, 1592, in the county of Leicestershire, England. The plot of The Three Musketeers (1844), a famous historical romance by Alexandre Dumas, centers about a love affair between Buckingham and Anne of Austria, wife of King Louis XIII of France.
