The sitter was MP for Corfe Castle in Dorset in the short Parliament of 1640, and represented Bury St. Edmunds in the Long Parliament. In 1643 he was created Baron Jermyn of St. Edmundsbury, and at the restoration in 1660 he became Earl of St. Albans. He is depicted in his elaborate robes of State, painted with all the verve for which Lely and his studio assistants were so esteemed at the time.

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