Sir William Killigrew was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 court official under Charles I

Charles I of England

Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...

 and Charles II

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

.

He was the son of Sir Robert Killigrew

Robert Killigrew

Sir Robert Killigrew was an English courtier and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1601 and 1629. He served as Ambassador the the United Provinces.-Life:...

 (1580–1633) and Mary Woodhouse, of Kimberley, Norfolk

Kimberley, Norfolk

Kimberley is a village in Norfolk, in England. It is within the civil parish of Kimberley and Carleton Forehoe in South Norfolk, situated about north-west of Wymondham, around the crossroads of the B1108 and B1135....

, his wife. He was the elder brother to Thomas Killigrew

Thomas Killigrew

Thomas Killigrew was an English dramatist and theatre manager. He was a witty, dissolute figure at the court of King Charles II of England.-Life and work:...

. In 1625 or 1625, he married Mary Hill and they had seven children, of whom only sons Robert and William survived their father.

Killigrew was knighted in May 1626. He was elected MP for Newport

Newport (Cornwall) (UK Parliament constituency)

Newport was a rotten borough situated in Cornwall. It is now within the town of Launceston, which was itself also a parliamentary borough at the same period...

 and Penryn

Penryn (UK Parliament constituency)

Penryn was a parliamentary borough in Cornwall, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of England from 1553 until 1707, to the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and finally to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to until 1832...

, Cornwall in March 1628, but only sat for the latter. In 1629, he and his father were jointly awarded the Governorship of Pendennis Castle

Pendennis Castle

Pendennis Castle is a Henrician castle, also known as one of Henry VIII's Device Forts, in the English county of Cornwall. It was built in 1539 for King Henry VIII to guard the entrance to the River Fal on its west bank, near Falmouth. St Mawes Castle is its opposite number on the east bank and...

. However, after some trouble, he resigned in favour of Sir Nicholas Slanning

Nicholas Slanning

Sir Nicholas Slanning was an English soldier and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1642. He was a Royalist army officer active in the West of England, during the English Civil War.-Background:...

 in April 1635.

With partners, he attempted to drain the Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

 fens, an immensely expensive undertaking. During the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

 he gave loyal and effective support to the King.

In 1646 he presented himself to the directors of the Levant Company

Levant Company

The Levant Company, or Turkey Company, was an English chartered company formed in 1581, to regulate English trade with Turkey and the Levant...

 and insisted that he was the king's choice as ambassador to Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

. His candidacy was not considered.

At the Restoration

English Restoration

The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...

 he was made the Queen's Vice-Chamberlain

Chamberlain (office)

A chamberlain is an officer in charge of managing a household. In many countries there are ceremonial posts associated with the household of the sovereign....

, an influential and well-rewarded post.

From 1664 to 1679 he was Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Richmond

Richmond (Yorks) (UK Parliament constituency)

Richmond is a constituency located in North Yorkshire, which elects one Member of Parliament at least once every five years using the First-past-the-post system of voting....

 in Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

.

He was the author of four plays of some merit. The four dramas, with their dates of publication, are:

• Ormasdes, or Love and Friendship (1664)
• Pandora, or the Converts (1664)
• Selindra (1664)
• The Siege of Urbin (1666).

The tragicomedy

Tragicomedy

Tragicomedy is fictional work that blends aspects of the genres of tragedy and comedy. In English literature, from Shakespeare's time to the nineteenth century, tragicomedy referred to a serious play with either a happy ending or enough jokes throughout the play to lighten the mood.-Classical...

 The Siege of Urbin has often been considered his best play. Poet Edmund Waller

Edmund Waller

Edmund Waller, FRS was an English poet and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1624 and 1679.- Early life :...

addressed verses to Killigrew on the subject of Pandora, which indicate that the play was originally a tragedy; Killigrew revised it into a comedy after the tragic version failed onstage.