COVENTRY, HENRY [SSNE 118]
Text source
Sir Henry Coventry arrived in Sweden at the start of September 1664 to take up his position as Stuart Ambassador, although many of his letters note his title as "English" ambassador. He was there during the same period as Earl of Carlisle [SSNE 2261] who had already expressed King Charles II of Britain's hopes for an alliance with Sweden. An undated letter from Coventry (possibly from 1671) intercedes on behalf of some English merchants who were being prevented from transporting pitch/tar to England from Sweden. This letter also informs the Swedes that Coventry is about to end his embassy there, as does another with a pencilled in date of 22 May 1672. On this trip his chaplain had been William Hopkins [SSNE 1354].
Coventry served variously as an envoy in Sweden between 1664-72 and to the Dutch Republic in 1667 in which year he also negotiated with Danish diplomats in London. He was secretary of state for England between 1672-9.
Sources: L. Bittner and L. Gross, Reportorium der diplomatischen vertreter aller lander, vol. 1, 1648-1715 (Oldenburg and Berlin, 1936), pp.183, 199; Swedish Riksarkiv, Anglica 522; Swedish Riksarkiv, Svenske Sändebuds till Utländske Hof och Deras Sändebud till Sverige, (1841), p.85; Keith Feiling, British Foreign Policy, 1660-1672, (London, 1930), esp. pp. 189-195; Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; S. Konovalov, Oxford Slavonic Papers, Vol. 10, (1962); G.M. Bell, 'A Handlist of Diplomatic representatives 1509-1688' (London, 1990), p.202.
Service record
- STUART KINGDOMS, SWEDEN
- Arrived 1664-09-01
- Departed 1666-06-21
- Capacity AMBASSADOR, purpose DIPLOMACY
- STUART KINGDOMS, THE DUTCH REPUBLIC [SWEDEN]
- Arrived 1667-01-01
- Departed 1667-12-31
- Capacity AMBASSADOR, purpose DIPLOMACY
- STUART KINGDOMS, SWEDEN
- Arrived 1671-07-12
- Departed 1672-06-27
- Capacity AMBASSADOR, purpose DIPLOMACY