On Favourites: The Brilliant Brief Life of the Duke of Buckingham

When George Villiers, described as ‘the handsomest-bodied man in Europe’ caught King James I’s eye, he wrote to Francis Bacon asking advice on how to conduct himself in his new role as Royal favourite. Then he was just the fourth son of an obscure school country gentleman. By the time he was murdered 14 years later he was the Duke of Buckingham and had been the beloved first minister to two kings. He was called the greatest subject this country has ever seen.

Lucy Hughes-Hallet recounts the story of his meteoric rise and fall.

Lucy’s biography of Buckingham, The Scapegoat, won the Plutarch award 2025 and earned her the Biographers’ Club Exceptional Contribution to Biography Award. Her earlier book, The Pike:Gabriele d’Annunzio, won the Baillie Gifford Prize, the Duff Cooper Prize and the Costa Biography of the Year Award.

This lecture will be available in person only at Dagnall Street Baptist Church. Please click on the button above right to register. You will then receive confirmation of your registration by email return. Registration closes at 3.30pm on Tuesday 19 May.

If you have any questions, please email Gill Girdziusz via [email protected]

Image above: George Villiers and his family in 1628, after Gerard van Honthorst (National Portrait Gallery London)

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