Kirkhoven, Catherine (d. 1667)
Kirkhoven, Catherine (d. 1667)
English aristocrat. Name variations: Katherine or Catherine Kerckhoven or Kerchhoven; Lady Stanhope; Countess of Chesterfield. Born Catherine Wotton (also seen as Katherine Wooton), before 1612; died Mar 7, 1667; dau. of Thomas Wotton, 2nd Baron Wotton, and Mary Throckmorton; m. Henry Stanhope, Lord Stanhope, Dec 4, 1628 (died 1634); m. Jan van der Kerchhoven (also seen as John Polyander à Kerckhoven, Lord of Henvliet); m. Daniel O'Neill (died 1664); children: (1st m.) Catherine Stanhope (b. before 1634–1662); Philip Stanhope, 2nd earl of Chesterfield (1634–c. 1714); (2nd m.) Charles Henry Kirkhoven, 1st and last earl of Bellomont, and possibly Helena Dorothea Kirkhoven (d. 1703, who m. Charles Stanley, 8th earl of Derby).
Was governess to Mary of Orange (1631–1660), princess royal, daughter of Charles I; married Jan van der Kerchhoven, one of the ambassadors from the States-General who negotiated the marriage between Mary and the prince of Orange, William II (1641); was a confidential advisor to the princess; arrested in England for being privy to Royalist plots (1651), was acquitted and returned to Holland (1652); gained title countess of Chesterfield (1660); following Mary's death (1660), entered service of duchess of York (Mary II), becoming lady of the bedchamber (1663).