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Margaret Bourchier


Margaret Bryan, Baroness Bryan (c. 1468 – c. 1551/52) was Lady Governess to Henry VIII's children: Princess Mary, Princess Elizabeth, Henry FitzRoy and Prince Edward. The position of Lady Governess in her day resembled less that of the popular modern idea of a governess, more that of a nanny.

She was born Margaret Bourchier in about 1468 in Beningbrough, Yorkshire, England. Her mother was Elizabeth Tilney and her father was Sir Humphrey Bourchier, who was killed at the Battle of Barnet on 14 April 1471 during the series of dynastic civil wars known as the Wars of the Roses. Humphrey Bourchier was heir to the title Baron Berners but having predeceased his father, Margaret's brother John instead succeeded to the title as second Baron Berners. Humphrey Bourchier and Elizabeth Tilney had one further daughter who survived to adulthood. Margaret's younger sister was Anne Bourchier (1470–1530) who married Thomas Fiennes, 8th Lord Dacre in 1492. Their son, also Thomas, was the 9th Lord Dacre who was executed for murder in 1541.

Margaret Bourchier was married three times. Her first husband, with whom there may only have been a marriage agreement (a ‘pre-contract’), was Sir John Sandes (or Sandys). The marriage agreement was signed when Margaret was 10 or 11 years old on 11 November 1478. Pre-contracts were not unusual among the Tudor period aristocracy and gentry, and it need not have resulted in a consummated marriage.


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