Nicholas Carew (Lord Privy Seal) the Royal Household. In 1371 he was appointed Keeper of the Privy Seal, the first layman to hold the post, and remained in office until the king's death in 1377. He was one of the group of courtiers around Edward III, including William, Lord Latimer, Lord John Neville, Sir Alan Buxhull, Richard Lyons, and the king's mistress Alice Perrers, who increasingly controlled access to and decisions emerging from the king as his health failed. Influential in the royal campaign in 1376 against William Wykeham, bishop of Winchester, he was named as an executor and trustee of the king's will. After
English and British royal mistress the royal mistress would often exercise a profound influence over the King, extending even to affairs of State. Her relationship with the Queen could be tense, although some wives appear to have felt little jealousy in the matter. Henry II had several long-term mistresses, including Annabel de Balliol and Rosamund Clifford. He had some illegitimate children by them; but the most prominent of these, Geoffrey (later Archbishop of York) and William (later Earl of Salisbury), were by other women. Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in January