Charles 2nd Son of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk

Charles Brandon (1537/1538–14 July 1551) has the distinction of having been a British peer for shortest tenure ever. His older brother, Henry, became the Duke of Suffolk at the age of nine, upon the death of their father, also named Charles, in 1544. In July of 1551, both youths fell ill with a “seating sickness.” On July 14, Henry died, making the young Charles the new Duke. Unfortunately, Charles died about an hour later, and since he died childless, the title became extinct. While their father was still alive, Hans Holbein, court painter to King Henry VIII, painted their portraits in miniature. The miniatures entered the royal collection in 1616. In the late 1700s, Francesco Bartolozzi, a Florentine artist who spent forty years in England working as Engraver to the King, made many prints faithfully reproducing Holbein’s paintings, this portrait among them.