Various titles became eligible for re-grant following the death in 1672 of King Charles II's childless 4th cousin (both being descended in the male line from John Stewart, 3rd Earl of Lennox, the paternal grandfather of Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, father of King James I of England) Charles Stewart, 3rd Duke of Richmond, 6th Duke of Lennox (1639–1672), KG, 12th Seigneur d'Aubigny in France, of Cobham Hall in Kent and of Richmond House in Whitehall, London. This Anglicised branch of the Scottish family of "Stewart of Darnley" had been much beloved and promoted by King James I & VI, whose favourite had been the Franco-Scottish Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox, 1st Earl of Lennox (1542–1583), 7th Seigneur d'Aubigny, his father's first cousin (and great-grandfather of the last in the male line Charles Stewart, 3rd Duke of Richmond, 6th Duke of Lennox). Thus the Lennox and Richmond titles and the French Seigneurie d'Aubigny (effectively the lordship of the manor of the Château d'Aubigny in Aubigny-sur-Nère) held special significance for the Stuart monarchs. Moreover the title Earl of Richmond had merged into the crown on the accession to the throne in 1485 of King Henry VII, formerly Earl of Richmond, and the Scottish title Earl of Lennox had merged into the crown of Great Britain, as King James I of England and VI of Scotland was effectively the 5th Earl of Lennox, being the heir of his paternal grandfather Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox.