Roger North, 2nd Baron North (1531 – 3 December 1600) was an English peer and politician at the court of Elizabeth I.
He was born 27 February 1531 to Edward North, 1st Baron North and his first wife. [1] His father had represented Cambridgeshire in 3 Edwardian parliaments, and following his father's ennoblement by Mary I and presumably through his influence North sat for the Cambridgeshire in the queen's first parliament of 1555. [2] His opposition to a government bill may have resulted in his failure to be returned for the next parliament, but he sat for Cambridge in the first two parliaments of Elizabeth I. [1] He was created a knight of the Bath at Elizabeth's coronation and succeeded his father as Lord North in 1564. [3]
In 1568 he was sent to Vienna with the Earl of Sussex to invest Emperor Maximilian with the Order of the Garter. [3] He was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire in 1569, and was Custos Rotulorum of Cambridgeshire by 1574. [1] In 1574 he was sent on embassy to France, following the accession of Henry III. [3] He was appointed Treasurer of the Household in 1596 after the death of Sir Francis Knollys. [1]
North played card games called "maw" and Primero with Elizabeth on 6 August 1576. [4] The queen came to his house at Kirtling for three days on 1 September 1578. [5] The visit cost Lord North £642. He gave the queen a jewel worth £120. [6]
North was a personal friend of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, the Queen's favourite. He was present at the latter's secret marriage to Lettice Knollys, Countess of Essex in 1578, [7] and served at his expedition to the Netherlands in 1585–1587. Leicester wanted to make Lord North governor of Brill in 1586, which desire was, however, declined by Elizabeth. [3]
He married Winifred(d. 1578), daughter of Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich and widow of Sir Henry Dudley (d. 1544). [3] [8] Their children included:
North was succeeded upon his death in 1600 by his grandson, Dudley North, 3rd Baron North, the son of Sir John North.