According to Cokayne, Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford, married, as his second wife, shortly before 12 April 1673, Diana Kirke, daughter of George Kirke, 'the well known Groom of the Bedchamber', by his second wife, Mary Townshend, daughter of Aurelian Townshend. They had a son, Charles, who died as an infant, and with the death of the 20th Earl the heirs male of Aubrey de Vere, 10th Earl of Oxford, came to an end, 'and the earldom of Oxford, created in 1142, became extinct'.