Henry Bard, 1st Viscount Bellomont (1616 – June 20, 1656) was a Royalist soldier and diplomat who served in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, then as envoy from Charles II of England to Safavid Iran and the Mughal Empire, where he died in 1656.

At the end of 1655 they continued from Isfahan to India where Bard died in June 1656; Manucci settled in Delhi and wrote a first hand account of the Mughal Empire which contains details of their journey.

In February 1643, Queen Henrietta Maria landed in Bridlington with a large shipment of weapons purchased in the Dutch Republic for transport to the Royalist war-time capital at Oxford.

He took over Pinchbeck's regiment and fought under Sir Ralph Hopton at Cheriton in March 1644; he was wounded and captured after launching an unauthorised attack which largely contributed to the Royalist defeat.

[7] Since his injuries led to the amputation of an arm, Bard was released in May but rather than retiring rejoined the king and took part in the 1644 western campaign, including the Battle of Lostwithiel and Second Newbury.

These included Worcester, where Bard was appointed governor; he began raising money and men but in May Charles surrendered to the Scots Covenanters outside Newark on Trent and the war ended when Oxford capitulated in June.

On 8 July 1646, Bard was created Viscount Bellomont and given a commission to raise a regiment of cavalry in Ireland but was captured by the Parliamentarian navy crossing the Irish Sea and held in Plymouth.

[13] He was accompanied by Niccolao Manucci, a 19 year old recruited in Venice to act as his guide, who settled in India and wrote a comprehensive first hand account of the Mughal Empire.