Elizabeth Somerset, Countess of Worcester (died 1565)

Elizabeth (née Browne) Somerset, Countess of Worcester (died 1565) was a lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn and the main informant against her. She may have been a mistress of King Henry VIII.

Elizabeth was born approximately in 1502 and lived in Bechworth, Surrey, England. She was the daughter of Sir Anthony Browne, a trusted courtier at the court of Henry VIII, and his wife Lady Lucy Neville, a daughter of John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu and Isobel Ingaldesthorpe. She was also the stepsister of Sir William Fitzwilliam, 1st Earl of Southampton, treasurer of the household and a man who later became very active in the Boleyn inquiries led by her accusations against Queen Anne. In her mother’s will, dated 1531, Elizabeth was left a pair of “bedys of gold with tenne gawdies.”

About 1508, Elizabeth's sister, Anne Browne, married Sir Charles Brandon, later Duke of Suffolk. By that union, Elizabeth was aunt to Lady Anne Brandon, and her younger sister, Lady Mary Brandon.

She was the second wife of Henry Somerset, 2nd earl of Worcester, the son of Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester, the first Earl of Worcester and Elizabeth Somerset, Baroness Herbert. Henry's first wife, Lady Margaret, had died without issue. Elizabeth married Henry before 1527 and was officially deemed the Countess of Worcester on 15 April 1526.

Elizabeth served as one of Anne Boleyn’s ladies in her privy chamber and was close to her. After Anne’s coronation, a large feast was held. To the queen’s right stood the countess of Oxford and to her left, Elizabeth Somerset. As her lady-in-waiting, Elizabeth’s “duties included on several occasions during the dinner holding a fine cloth before the queen’s face when she wanted to spit.” There is documentation that Elizabeth secretly borrowed £100 from Anne, suggesting the two were close. She did not repay that debt by the time Anne was imprisoned in the Tower. There is also record of a payment made on 4 February 1530 by the king’s personal purse to a midwife for the countess of Worcester, most likely Anne’s doing. This closeness lent credibility to her accusations against the queen. G.W. Bernard, author of Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions explains that as Anne’s lady in waiting, “she would have been aware of it, indeed might have been complicit” with any adulterous acts.

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