Frances Villiers, Countess of Jersey Frances Villiers, Countess of Jersey Frances Villiers, Countess of Jersey ("née" Twysden; 25 February 1753 – 23 July 1821) was one of the more notorious of the many mistresses of King George IV when he was Prince of Wales, "a scintillating society woman, a heady mix of charm, beauty, and sarcasm". Through marriage she belonged to the Villiers family. She was born Frances Twysden, in London, second and posthumous daughter of The Rt Rev. Dr Philip Twysden (c.1714–52), Church of Ireland Lord Bishop of Raphoe (1746–1752; died 2 November 1752, allegedly shot while attempting to rob a stagecoach near London),
Villiers family became a mistress of King Charles II of England, by whom she had five children. The Villiers family had been settled at Brooksby, Leicestershire, since at least 1235. In the early 13th century the tenant of Brooksby, Gilbert de Seis, married a member of the Villiers family, a line of minor gentry of Norman descent. The estate remained in Villiers hands for the next 500 years. At this time, Brooksby consisted of the hall, the nearby Church of St Michael and All Angels, a small number of peasants' houses and a field system with common land. In the 16th century,