The Fair Lord is the unnamed young man to whom Shakespeare's sonnets 1–126 are addressed. William Shakespeare writes of the young man in romantic and loving language, a fact which has led several commentators to suggest a homosexual relationship between them. The language is never sexual in character, unlike the poems addressed to the Dark Lady, but it nevertheless depicts a form of passionate Platonic love. It is not known whether the sonnets are autobiographical or pure fiction. Shakespeares sonnets comprise a collection of 154 poems in sonnet form that deal with such themes as love, beauty, politics, and mortality. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Since its coinage, the word homosexuality has acquired multiple meanings. ... The Dark Lady is a woman referred to by William Shakespeare in a number of his sonnets. ... Plato and his disciples. ...

The earliest poems in the collection do not imply a close personal relationship; instead, they recommend the benefits of marriage and children. With the famous sonnet 18 ("Shall I compare thee to a summer's day") the tone changes dramatically towards romantic intimacy. Sonnet 20 explicitly laments that the young man is not a woman. Most of the subsequent sonnets describe the ups and downs of the relationship, culminating with an affair between the poet and the Dark Lady. The relationship seems to end when the Fair Lord succumbs to the Lady's charms.

There have been many attempts to identify the Fair Lord. Shakespeare's one-time patron, the Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton is the most commonly suggested candidate, although William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke has moved into contention, being somewhat younger than Shakespeare or Southampton [1]. Both claims have much to do with the dedication of the sonnets to "Mr WH", "the only begetter of these ensuing sonnets": the initials could relate to either Earl. However, while Shakespeare's language often seems to imply that the 'lord' is of higher social status than himself, this may not be the case. The apparent references to the poet's inferiority may simply be part of the rhetoric of romantic submission. Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton (October 6, 1573 - November 10, 1624), one of Shakespeares patrons, was the second son of Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton, and his wife Mary Browne, daughter of the 1st Viscount Montague. ... The Right Honourable William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke KG (April 8, 1580–April 10, 1630) was the son of Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. ...