Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham

Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, was an English admiral and courtier under Elizabeth I and James I. As Lord Admiral he played a leading role in the naval campaign against the Spanish Armada in 1588.

Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham also held the offices or ranks of Baron Howard, ambassador of the Kingdom of England to the Kingdom of Spain, Lord Lieutenant of Sussex, and Lord Lieutenant of Surrey. Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham belonged to the Howard family and operated within Kingdom of England. Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham was born in London.

Winston Graham’s The Grove of Eagles brings Charles Howard into the Elizabethan maritime world surrounding the Killigrew family, privateering and England’s worsening war with Spain. As Lord Admiral, Howard represents the crown’s naval command within a story that treats Cornwall as an exposed frontier of the Anglo-Spanish conflict and leads into the Armada era.