Frances Villiers, Countess of Jersey his "wife", Maria Fitzherbert, with whom he had undergone a form of marriage in a clandestine Church of England ceremony that all parties to it knew was invalid under the Royal Marriages Act 1772. Having encouraged the Prince of Wales to marry his first cousin, Caroline of Brunswick in 1794, Lady Jersey nevertheless set out to make Caroline's life difficult. However, the now Princess of Wales (Caroline) had very little regard for George IV, nor he for her, and after the birth of their child, they lived apart during their twenty-five year marriage, leaving a void Frances and other mistresses,
Christopher Villiers, 1st Earl of Anglesey to Mary Beaumont ("c." 1570–1632), later created Countess of Buckingham. He had two full brothers, George Villiers, successively Viscount Villiers (1616), then Earl, Marquess, and finally Duke of Buckingham, and John Villiers, first Viscount Purbeck, as well as a sister, Susan, later the countess of William Feilding, 1st Earl of Denbigh; while Sir Edward Villiers and Sir George Villiers were his half-brothers. Villiers was described as "unattractive and unintelligent" in his youth, but he shared in his family's good fortune flowing from the position of his brother George as king's favourite. In 1617 he was appointed Gentleman of the Bedchamber