Global InformationLady Henrietta Berkeley information
Lady Henrietta Berkeley | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Lady Henrietta Berkeley (1807) | |
| Born | Henrietta Harriett Berkeley c. 1664 |
| Disappeared | 1682 Epsom, England |
| Status | Found in London later that year |
| Died | 1706 (aged 41–42) London, England |
| Nationality | English |
| Known for | Adultery with sister's husband |
| Partner | Lord Grey of Warke |
| Parent(s) | George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley Elizabeth Massingberd |
Lady Henrietta Berkeley (c. 1664–1706) was an English aristocrat notorious for having an affair with her elder sister's husband, Lord Grey of Warke. The affair began in 1681 when Berkeley was not yet an adult and was discovered by her mother the following year. Berkeley was removed to the family seat at Epsom. She escaped and went into hiding in lodging houses in London, under the protection of Grey. Her father, George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley, sued her lover in a trial which became a sensation in 1682.
At the court of the King's Bench, Berkeley claimed to have left home with Grey of her own free will and also to have married William Turner, who was Grey's servant. After a scuffle with her father outside court, she was briefly imprisoned with Turner for her own safety. When Grey was implicated in the Rye House Plot the following year, the couple fled to Cleves, with Turner in their entourage. At the time, Berkeley was pregnant and it is not known if she returned to England with Grey for the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685. She died in London in 1706.