Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex,
KG PC (; 10 November 1565 – 25 February 1601) was an English nobleman and a
favourite of
Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under
house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the
Nine Years' War in 1599. In 1601, he led an abortive coup d'état against the government and was executed for
treason. He is an ancestor of
Queen Elizabeth II.