Apart from James, Duke of Monmouth, the most notable of Charles II’s children by his several mistresses was Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton, the King’s son by Barbara Palmer ( née Villiers), Countess of Castlemaine and Duchess of Cleveland. Born in 1663, he was considered the most promising of the ‘royal bastards’. A hot-headed youth, he soon matured into a distinguished commander and leader on land and sea. As this biography by his thrice great-grandson suggests, only an untimely death in action at the age of twenty-seven prevented him from attaining senior rank in the army or navy. First published in 1921, it was reviewed favourably by The Times , which observed that the author ‘had given us so interesting a book that we are inclined to complain that he has not written more about a period he has evidently carefully studied.’