James Waldegrave, 1st Earl Waldegrave

James Waldegrave, 1st Earl Waldegrave, was born in 1684 and died on April 11, 1741. He was a British diplomat and held the position of British ambassador to France from 1730 to 1740.

He was the son of the 1st Baron Waldegrave and Henrietta FitzJames. His mother, Henrietta FitzJames, was an illegitimate daughter of King James II of England and his mistress, Arabella Churchill. Waldegrave received his education in France.

In 1690, he inherited his father's title. On May 20, 1714, he married Mary Webb, daughter of Sir John Webb, 3rd Baronet. Mary Webb died in childbirth in 1719, and the couple had three surviving children: James Waldegrave, who became the 2nd Earl Waldegrave; John Waldegrave, the 3rd Earl Waldegrave; and Lady Henrietta Waldegrave. Lady Henrietta married firstly Lord Edward Herbert, son of the 2nd Marquess of Powis, and had issue, and secondly John Beard, a singer at Covent Garden.

Following his wife's death, Waldegrave returned to England from the Jacobite court in exile. He converted from Roman Catholicism—his upbringing religion—to Anglicanism to be eligible to sit in the House of Lords. He briefly served as a Lord of the Bedchamber in 1723 and then from 1730 to 1741.

Waldegrave served as ambassador extraordinary to France in 1725 and was the British ambassador to Austria from 1727 to 1730. In 1730, he succeeded Horatio Walpole as ambassador to France, a position he held until 1740. During his diplomatic service in France, he maintained residence in London intermittently and was one of the founding governors of the Foundling Hospital, established in 1739.

He was created Earl Waldegrave in 1729. Upon his death in 1741, his eldest son, James Waldegrave, succeeded him as the 2nd Earl Waldegrave.

Waldegrave inherited Hever Castle in Kent, which had been in the family for approximately 160 years. However, he sold the property in the early 1700s to Sir William Humfreys, Lord Mayor of London in 1714.