Lettice Knollys

Lettice Knollys
Lettice Knollys as Countess of Leicester, c. 1585 by George Gower
Born	8 November 1543 Rotherfield Greys, Oxfordshire, England
Died	25 December 1634 (aged 91) Drayton Bassett, Staffordshire, England
Resting place	The Beauchamp Chapel of the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick, Warwickshire, England
Title	Viscountess Hereford Countess of Essex Countess of Leicester
Spouse(s)	Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester Christopher Blount
Children	Penelope Rich Dorothy Percy, Countess of Northumberland Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex Walter Devereux Francis Devereux (died as a child) Robert Dudley, Lord Denbigh (died as a child)
Parent(s)	Sir Francis Knollys and Catherine Carey

Lettice Knollys (/ˈnoʊlz/ NOHLZ, sometimes called Laetitia, also known as Lettice Devereux or Lettice Dudley), Countess of Essex and Countess of Leicester (8 November 1543 – 25 December 1634), was an English noblewoman and mother to the courtiers Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex and Lady Penelope Rich, although via her marriage to Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, she incurred the Queen's unrelenting displeasure.

A grandniece of Anne Boleyn and close to Princess Elizabeth since childhood, Lettice Knollys was introduced early into court life. At 17 she married Walter Devereux, Viscount Hereford, who in 1572 became Earl of Essex. After her husband went to Ireland in 1573 she possibly became involved with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. There was plenty of scandalous talk, not least when Essex died in Ireland of dysentery in 1576. Two years later Lettice Knollys married Robert Dudley in private. When the Queen was told of the marriage she banished the Countess forever from court, effectively curtailing her social life. The couple's child, Robert, Lord Denbigh, died at the age of three, to the great grief of his parents and ending all prospects for the continuance of the House of Dudley. Lettice Knollys' union with Leicester was nevertheless a happy one, as was her third marriage to the much younger Sir Christopher Blount, whom she unexpectedly married in 1589 only six months after the Earl's death. She continued to style herself Lady Leicester.