Lady Ophelia Malfoy (14 July, 1670 - 11 January, 1677) was the fifth child of thirteen born to Saturnius Malfoy, the 10th Duke of Wiltshire, and his wife Ambrosia Sidney, Duchess of Wiltshire. She was the younger sister of Lady Aurelia Malfoy, Lady Hermia Ollerton, Countess of Chester, and Lady Portia Black (née Malfoy).
She passed away aged seven of an unknown affliction, but it is understood that she suffered from poor health for most of her life. She was the first of the four Malfoy sisters that did not survive childhood.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Lady Ophelia Malfoy was born on 14 July, 1670, to Ambrosia Sidney, Duchess of Wiltshire. Her father was Saturnius Malfoy, the 10th Duke of Wiltshire, and she was their fifth child and daughter. Ophelia already had four sisters, they were Aurelia, Hermia, Portia, and Drusilla. The Lady Ophelia was part of a string of children born soon after one another. She was one year apart from her older sister Drusilla and her younger sister, Lady Aquila Malfoy II. She was two years apart from Portia and twins Desdemona and Cosette.
Ophelia died on 11 January, 1677, in Malfoy Manor, located in Marlborough, Wiltshire, of an unknown affliction. She was seven years old. She was the first of the four Malfoy sisters that did not survive childhood, as her younger sister Cosette would follow in 1679.
Etymology[]
Derived from Greek οφελος (ophelos) meaning "help". This name was probably created by the 15th-century poet Jacopo Sannazaro for a character in his poem Arcadia. It was borrowed by Shakespeare for his play Hamlet (1600), in which it belongs to Hamlet's lover who eventually goes insane and drowns herself.