Lettice Knollys
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Lettice Knollys was an English noblewoman and mother to the courtiers Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Penelope, Lady Rich. She was Countess of Essex during her first marriage to Walter Devereu
Lettice Knollys as Countess of Leicester, c. 1585 by George Gower
Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, Lettice Knollys' first husband in 1572, aged 32
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, 1575, aged about 43
Dorothy and Penelope Devereux, the daughters of Lettice Knollys, c. 1580
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester was an English statesman and the favourite of Elizabeth I from her accession until his death. He was a suitor for the queen's hand for many years.
Lettice Knollys
…She was Countess of Essex during her first marriage to Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex and became Countess of Leicester after her second marriage to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. She was also the granddaughter of Mary Boleyn, a mistress of Henry VIII and sister to his second wife, Anne Boleyn. With her marriage to her cousin…
c. 1564 portrait
Elizabeth's coronation procession: Dudley is on horseback on the far left, leading the palfrey of honour.
Dudley c. 1560
Lord Leicester. An 18th-century copy of his portrait and autograph