Background
In France at the time of his father"s condemnment in 1651, he petitioned unsuccessfully for the latter"s life.
In France at the time of his father"s condemnment in 1651, he petitioned unsuccessfully for the latter"s life.
As Lord Strange, he took little part in the English Civil War. After succeeding to the Earldom, he lived quietly at Bidston Hall, Cheshire, emerging to support Booth"s unsuccessful rising in 1659. Attainted for so doing, he was restored the following year and the family"s lands in the Isle of Manitoba were returned to him.
He served as mayor of Liverpool, between 1666 and 1667.
Dorothea reportedly had an extramarital tryst with King Charles II of England which resulted in a child. Their son George, born 1658, was raised by the wife of a Gunner at Windsor named Swan.
George assumed the surname Swan. The brother of Swan"s wife, Bartholomew Gibson, was the king"s farrier in Edinburgh.
When asked why he had not ennobled him, as he had his other illegitimate children, the king replied, "I did not dare to make a deuck (Scots for "duck") of him, but I made a nobler bird".
George Swan became a burgess in Glasgow in later life. George Swan had, at least, two daughters, Hannah Swan (married name Robertson. 1724–1800, Edinburgh) and Elizabeth Swan (1726–1790).
Elizabeth married William Mercer in 1746.
Both are buried at Kinnoull, Perth, Scotland.