Lieutenant-General Willem (or William) Anne van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle (5 June 1702 – 22 December 1754) was a British soldier, diplomat and courtier. He held various roles in the household of George II (1683-1760), who was a personal friend, participated in negotiations to end the 1718 to 1720 War of the Quadruple Alliance and was British Ambassador to France from 1748 to 1754. During the 1740 to 1748 War of the Austrian Succession, he commanded troops in Flanders and was transferred to Scotland following the outbreak of the Jacobite rising of 1745. After Culloden, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Scotland before returning to Flanders in 1747. Despite his many offices and inheriting a large fortune, he was known as the "Spendthrift Earl" and died in 1754 leaving his family nothing but debts. Life William (or Willem) Anne van Keppel was born 5 June 1702 at Whitehall Palace in London, only son of Arnold, 1st Earl of Albemarle (1670-1718) and Geertruid van der Duyn (died 1741). His father was popular with both William III and Queen Anne, who was his godmother. In 1722, he married Anne Lennox (1703 – 1789), daughter of the Duke of Richmond, an illegitimate son of Charles II. She was Lady of the Bedchamber to Caroline of Ansbach (1683-1737); she was reputedly a great favourite of George II, who paid her a pension of £1,500 per annum when Albemarle died in 1754. They had over fifteen children, of whom six survived to adulthood; George, 3rd Earl of Albemarle (1724-1772), Augustus (1725-1786), William (1727-1782), Frederick (1728–1777), Caroline (1733–69) mother of Sir Robert Adair and Elizabeth (1739-1768). Career Albemarle was educated in the Dutch province of Gelderland, where the family originated. After returning to England in 1717, he was commissioned in the Coldstream Foot Guards and succeeded his father as Earl of Albemarle in 1718. Over the next few years, he and a colleague John Huske accompanied the Earl of Cadogan in meetings with the Dutch over the War of the Quadruple Alliance; financially exhausted by the War of the Spanish Succession, they were anxious to avoid another. The Treaty of The Hague was agreed in 1720, although negotiations continued with Austria. Like his father, Albemarle appears to have had a talent for making powerful friends; his marriage in 1722 was held at Cadogan's house near Caversham, outside Reading. He was also made Lord of the Bedchamber to