Barbara Villiers was a lady-in-waiting

Lady-in-waiting

A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a royal court, attending on a queen, a princess, or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman from a family highly thought of in good society, but was of lower rank than the woman on whom she...

 to Anne of Great Britain

Anne of Great Britain

Anne ascended the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Act of Union, two of her realms, England and Scotland, were united as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain.Anne's Catholic father, James II and VII, was deposed during the...

 and governess to Prince William, Duke of Gloucester. Her sister, Elizabeth Villiers (later Countess of Orkney) was the acknowledged mistress of William III of England

William III of England

William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...

 from 1680 to 1695.

Born to Colonel Sir Edward Villiers of Richmond and Lady Frances Howard (a descendant of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk

John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk

John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was an English nobleman, soldier, and the first Howard Duke of Norfolk...

), Barbara became a maid-of-honor to the princesses of York before Mary

Mary II of England

Mary II was joint Sovereign of England, Scotland, and Ireland with her husband and first cousin, William III and II, from 1689 until her death. William and Mary, both Protestants, became king and queen regnant, respectively, following the Glorious Revolution, which resulted in the deposition of...

 married William in 1677. Instead of accompanying her sisters Anne, Katherine, and Elizabeth to The Hague

The Hague

The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

, Barbara remained in England to join Anne's household, attracting the companionship of Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough

Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough

Sarah Churchill , Duchess of Marlborough rose to be one of the most influential women in British history as a result of her close friendship with Queen Anne of Great Britain.Sarah's friendship and influence with Princess Anne was widely known, and leading public figures...

, and invoking a sense of jealousy and rage within their royal mistress. Naturally ambitious like the rest of her family, Barbara mixed scintillating wit with devious deception in order to promote dissatisfaction against the Churchills, who came to abhor the reign of William and Mary

William and Mary

The phrase William and Mary usually refers to the coregency over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, of King William III & II and Queen Mary II...

 (1689–1702). She was thought to be a secret Jacobite.

Issue

Barbara married John Berkeley, 4th Viscount Fitzhardinge of Berehaven (1650 - 19 December 1712). They had two daughters, neither of which inherited their father's title:

• Hon. Frances Berkeley married Sir Thomas Clarges, 2nd Bt. before 1721. They had 2 children.
• Hon. Mary Berkeley (bef. 1671 - 3 June 1741) married Walter Chetwynd, 1st Viscount Chetwynd of Bearhaven
  Walter Chetwynd, 1st Viscount Chetwynd
  Walter Chetwynd, 1st Viscount Chetwynd , of Rudge and Ingestre, Staffordshire, succeeded in 1693 to the Ingestre estates on the death of his cousin Walter Chetwynd . He was the eldest son of John Chetwynd...
  
   on 27 May 1703 in St. Martin-in-the-Fields in Church, Covent Garden, London. She was a maid of honor to Queen Anne
  Anne of Great Britain
  Anne ascended the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Act of Union, two of her realms, England and Scotland, were united as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain.Anne's Catholic father, James II and VII, was deposed during the...
  
  . No issue.