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 appointed colonel of the first regiment of Swiss in the Dutch service, and some years later deputy-forester of Holland, colonel of the Dutch carabineers, and governor of Bois-le-Duc. He was William's constant companion, and shared the royal favour with Portland. During William's last illness Albemarle was sent to communicate his future plans to the deputy Heinsius at the Hague. On his deathbed William handed to Albemarle the keys of his cabinet and private drawers. ‘You know what to do with them,’ he said (, v. 81–3; cf. Hist. MSS. Comm. 10th Rep. v. 193). After William's death (8 March 1702) Albemarle returned to his own country, took his seat as a member of the nobility in the States-general, and was made a general of horse in the Dutch army. William bequeathed him a sum of two hundred thousand guilders and the lordship of Breevorst. A Dutch manuscript in the British Museum shows that he instituted a suit against the Princess-dowager of Nassau in respect of the legacy (Egerton MS. 1708, f. 104). In 1705 he paid a visit to England, and, attending Queen Anne on a visit to Cambridge, is said to have received the honorary degree of doctor of laws. His name does not appear in ‘Graduati Cantabrigienses.’ Soon after his return home he left the Hague to join the army under Auverquerque. Marlborough, who appears to have been on the best terms with Albemarle, courteously expressed pleasure at his rejoining the army (Marlb. Desp. ii. 437). Albemarle was present at the forcing of the French lines at Tirlemont, at Ramillies in 1706, and at Oudenarde in 1708. During the siege of Lisle, Marlborough detached him with thirty squadrons to cover a convoy of guns and ammunition which the enemy were trying to intercept, a service he successfully accomplished. He was made governor of Tournay in 1709. He was employed at the siege of Bouchain, and commanded at the siege of Aire. In 1712 he commanded and was made prisoner at the battle of Denain, but was released, and entertained the Prince Eugène during the winter season in his house at the Hague. On the death of Queen Anne, Albemarle was sent to Hanover by the States-general to congratulate George I on his accession to the British throne, and afterwards received the new king and the Prince of Wales (George II) on the Dutch frontier. A resolution in favour of Albemarle's claim to a seat in the Dutch assembly in 1715 is in the British Museum Addit. MS. 15886, f. 242. He died 30 May 1718.

Bishop Burnet describes him as a cheerful young man, who had the art to please, but was so much taken up with his own pleasures that he could scarcely submit to the restraints of a court. He shared in all the recreations of William III, which brought him under the lash of Swift; but he was equally esteemed by Queen Anne and George I; and his handsome person and openhandedness, his obliging temper and winning manners, in marked contrast with the cold reserve of his rival Portland, rendered him a general favourite with the English people.

Albemarle married, in 1701, Geertruid Johanna Quirina van der Duyn, daughter of Adama van der Duyn, lord of St. Gravemoer, governor of Bergen-op-Zoom, and master of the buckhounds to William III. By her he had a son, William Anne [q. v.], who succeeded to the title, and a daughter. 

KEPPEL, AUGUSTUS, (1725–1786), admiral, second son of William Anne Keppel, second earl of Albemarle [q. v.], was born on 25 April 1725. After a few years at Westminster School, he entered the navy in 1735, on board the Oxford, in which he served for two years on the coast of Guinea. He was afterwards for three years in the Mediterranean, on board the Gloucester, carrying the broad pennant of Commodore Clinton. On his return to England in the summer of 1740 he was appointed to the Prince Frederick, and in September was moved to the Centurion, under the command of Commodore Anson [see ]. In her he served during the celebrated voyage round the world, and is specially mentioned as having been landed at the sacking and burning of Payta, 13 Nov. 1741, where the peak of his cap ‘was shaved off close to his temple’ by a musket bullet [see ]. In March 1742 he was promoted by the commodore to be acting lieutenant, in which rank he was confirmed on the Centurion's arrival in England and his passing his examination, on 25 July 1744. On 4 Aug. he was appointed to the Dreadnought, on 7 Nov. was promoted to be commander of the Wolf sloop, and on 11 Dec. was posted to the Greyhound frigate. In February 1744–1745 he was appointed to the Sapphire of 40 guns, in which he cruised with some success on the south coast of Ireland. In November 1745 he was moved to the Maidstone of 50