Melusina von der Schulenburg, Countess of Walsingham

Who was Melusina von der Schulenburg, Countess of Walsingham?

Petronilla Melusine von der Schulenburg, Countess of Walsingham was the natural daughter of King George I of Great Britain and his longtime mistress, Melusine von der Schulenburg, Duchess of Kendal.

In 1722, Melusina was created Baroness Aldborough and Countess of Walsingham as a life peer.

In Isleworth, Middlesex, on 5 September 1733 she married Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, a leading Whig politician.

The couple had no children, but it is possible that she may have been the mother, through an intimacy with Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, of Benedict Swingate Calvert. Calvert was born in England in around 1730-32, the illegitimate son of Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore. His mother's identity is not completely clear but some sources suggest that she was Melusina von der Schulenburg.