Elizabeth Darrell (maid-of-honour) - Thomas Wyatt

Thomas Wyatt

Around the year 1537, Elizabeth became the mistress of the poet and cousin of the late queen Anne Boleyn, Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503 – 11 October 1542). He was legally married to Elizabeth Brooke, the mother of his children Thomas and Anne, but they were separated and she was living in adultery with another man. Elizabeth bore Sir Thomas three sons, Henry (who died in early infancy), Francis (born in 1540 and took the surname of Darrell), and Edward, who was later executed for his part in the Wyatt's Rebellion of 1554, led by his legitimate half-brother, Sir Thomas Wyatt, the younger. Sir Thomas left Elizabeth properties in Dorset. She also received the manor of Tarrant, given to her by her lover's son, Sir Thomas. Some historians have speculated that she became the mistress of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the younger, after his father's death in 1542 and that he was actually the real father of Elizabeth's youngest son, Edward. Elizabeth went on to marry Robert Stroude in 1554.