Frances Cromwell

Frances Cromwell, later Lady Rich and Lady Russell, was the youngest surviving daughter of Oliver Cromwell and Elizabeth Bourchier. Born in 1638, she grew up as her father rose from provincial gentleman and parliamentarian to commander of the New Model Army and ultimately Lord Protector. Her marriage prospects became politically significant because the Protectorate sought alliances with established aristocratic families that could strengthen the Cromwells’ social legitimacy.

In 1657 Frances married Robert Rich, grandson and heir of the Earl of Warwick, after prolonged negotiations over settlements and political expectations. Rich died the following year, leaving her a young widow shortly before Oliver Cromwell’s death. In 1663, after the Restoration, she married Sir John Russell and had several children. Frances lived through the dramatic reversal of her family’s fortunes and survived until 1720, long after the Protectorate had passed into history.

In Miranda Malins’ The Puritan Princess, Eighteen-year-old Frances Cromwell has been carried by her father Oliver’s extraordinary rise into the ceremonial world of Hampton Court and Whitehall, where the family of the Lord Protector lives with many of the trappings of royalty.