Mary Howard, Duchess of Richmond

Her Grace The Duchess of Richmond and Somerset
Sketch of The Duchess of Richmond and Somerset by Hans Holbein the Younger.
Personal details
Born	1519
Died	7 December 1557 (aged 38)
Spouse(s)	Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset
Parents	Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk Lady Elizabeth Stafford

Mary FitzRoy, Duchess of Richmond and Somerset (1519 – 7 December 1557), formerly Lady Mary Howard, was the only daughter-in-law of King Henry VIII of England, being the wife of his only acknowledged illegitimate son, Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset.

Mary FitzRoy (formerly Lady Mary Howard) was the second daughter of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk: a member of the ambitious Howard Family. At the time of her birth, her father was the second-most senior noble in the English peerage; her maternal grandfather Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, the most senior. After Buckingham's execution in 1521, her father was one of only two dukes in the Kingdom, (the other being Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk). This changed in 1525, when Henry VIII elevated Henry FitzRoy, his six-year-old illegitimate son by Elizabeth Blount, to the Dukedom of Richmond and Somerset. When in 1529 Thomas Wolsey, who was charged with FitzRoy's care, fell from grace the mantle passed to Thomas Howard. At the same time the idea arose, allegedly from either the King or Anne Boleyn, that FitzRoy should marry Howard's daughter. Four years later, in November 1533, negotiations were completed and Howard, now aged fourteen or fifteen, and FitzRoy, himself just fifteen, were married. Through her father, she was first cousin to both Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, as well as second cousin to Jane Seymour.

The match was a triumph for the Boleyn family as the Duchess was a former member of Queen Anne's household, and a staunch advocate of reform. It was also a very advantageous match for the Duchess as with no legitimate male heir to the throne, the Duke was seen at the time as a likely future king. However, the marriage was not to last as FitzRoy died of consumption within three years. He had barely turned seventeen.