Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, KB was a Welsh diplomat, writer and satirist.
Background
The son of John Hanbury, a Welsh ironmaster, assumed the name of Williams under the terms of a bequest from his godfather, in 1720. On 1 July 1732 at Saint James, Westminster, London, he married Lady Frances Coningsby (15 January 1707/1708 – buried at Westminster Abbey, Westminster, London, 31 December 1781), daughter of Thomas Coningsby, 1st Earl Coningsby and Lady Frances Jones. They had two daughters: Frances married William Capel, 4th Earl of Essex and Charlotte Robert Boyle Walsingham, youngest son of the Earl of Shannon.
Career
He entered the British Parliament in 1734 representing the Monmouthshire constituency as a supporter of Robert Walpole, and held the seat until 1747. In 1739 he supported the establishment of the Foundling Hospital and served as one of its founding governors. From 1747 till 1750, he was the British ambassador in Dresden.
When the future King of Poland, Stanisław Poniatowski, was receiving medical treatment in Berlin, he met with Sir Charles, who was sent there as ambassador (1750–1751).
The Englishman became part of Polish and Russian history by introducing Stanisław to the Russian Grand Duchess Catherine Alexeyevna (Saint St. Petersburg 1755) (the future Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia). From this moment on began the famous romance between Catherine and the Polish aristocrat.
His father bought the Coldbrook Park estate near Abergavenny for him from his godfather"s bequest where in 1746 he reconstructed the house by adding a 9 bay 2-storey Georgian facade. He played a major role as a British envoy during the at the court in Russia.
While Russia was at war with Britain"s ally Prussia, the two countries remained at peace.
Sir Charles is recorded as a brilliant wit with a great reputation for lively and biting satire. He was the inspiration for the character Charles Edaston in the 1913 George Bernard Shaw play Great Catherine, which recounts the story of a British envoy to Catherine"s court. lieutenant was made into a film starring Peter O"Toole in 1968.
Williams also left poems which were said to be "witty but licentious".
Membership
11th Parliament of Great Britain. 8th Parliament of Great Britain. 9th Parliament of Great Britain]
In 1748 he was in Poland and witnessed a Polish Sejm, where he met members of the influential Czartoryski family (August Aleksander Czartoryski).