Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland

Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland (born Sept. 5, 1641, Paris, France—died Sept. 28, 1702, Althorp, Northamptonshire, Eng.) was an English statesman who was one of the most influential advisers during the reigns of Charles II, James II, and William III. His ability to shift allegiances was both the secret of his success and the cause of his unpopularity.

Spencer was the only son and heir of the 1st Earl of Sunderland, and in 1679 he became secretary of state. In January 1681 he was dismissed from office for voting to exclude Charles II’s Roman Catholic brother James, Duke of York (later King James II), from the succession. Nevertheless, he was reinstated as secretary of state in January 1683 and became the architect of Charles’s pro-French foreign policy. Although he served as chief minister under King James II, Sunderland could maintain his position only by acquiescing to the king’s pro-Catholic policies. To win the queen’s support, he converted to Roman Catholicism in June 1688, but in October he was dismissed in a desperate effort by James to regain popular support.

When William of Orange (later King William III) seized power in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, Sunderland fled to the European continent. Having renounced Roman Catholicism, he returned to England in May 1690. Within two years he had established himself as one of William III’s most valued political counselors and the principal intermediary between the king and Parliament. William made him lord chamberlain in April 1697, but parliamentary opposition (led by the Whig Junto) soon drove him out of office (December 1697).