Sir John Perrot

Sir John Perrot
Painting by George Powle
Spouse(s)	Anne Cheyne Jane Prust
Issue Sir Thomas Perrot William Perrot Lettice Perrot Anne Perrot Sir James Perrot (illegitimate) John Perrot (illegitimate) Elizabeth Perrot (illegitimate) another illegitimate daughter
Father	Thomas Perrot
Mother	Mary Berkeley
Born	7–11 November 1528
Died	3 November 1592 Tower of London

Sir John Perrot (7–11 November 1528 – 3 November 1592) served as Lord Deputy to Queen Elizabeth I of England during the Tudor conquest of Ireland. He died in custody in the Tower of London after conviction on charges of high treason for his conduct in that office. It was speculated that he was an illegitimate son of Henry VIII.

Perrot was born between 7 and 11 November 1528, probably at the family seat of Haroldston near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire in Wales. He was the only son of Thomas Perrot (1504/5–1531) and Mary Berkeley (c.1511–c.1586), the daughter of James Berkeley (died c.1515) of Thornbury, Gloucestershire. He had two sisters: Jane, who married Sir John Philipps of Picton Castle; and Elizabeth, who married John Price of Gogerddan.

Perrot resembled Henry VIII in temperament and physical appearance, and it was believed he was the bastard son of the late King. The main source for this belief was Sir Robert Naunton (husband of Perrot's granddaughter, Penelope), who had never known Perrot and used second-hand accounts to make his case. The case is weakened by the fact that Perrot was Mary Berkeley's third child, not her first, and that she and the King are not recorded to have been in the same place at the crucial time. Naunton claimed that Sir Owen Hopton, Lieutenant of the Tower of London, overheard Perrot say, "Will the Queen suffer her brother to be offered up as a sacrifice to the envy of his frisking adversaries?", suggesting that Perrot himself asserted his royal paternity. However, Hopton had been removed from office by the Queen eighteen months prior to Perrot's imprisonment, so he could not have overheard Perrot make the claim there.

Perrot joined the household of William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester, and thereby gained his introduction to Henry VIII. His advancement faltered on the death of the King in January 1547, but in the following month he was knighted at the coronation of Henry's successor, Edward VI.