Early Life
Magdalen Dacre was born in January 1538 at Naworth Castle in Cumberland, the fifth child of William Dacre, 3rd Baron Dacre of Gilsland, 2nd Baron Greystoke, and Elizabeth Talbot. The Dacres were powerful Northern Border lords and fervent Roman Catholics, however by the time of her birth, Henry VIII, the reigning monarch, had already made the break with Rome by placing the Protestant denomination on England, and had also just produced a male heir, Prince Edward (later Edward VI), with his third wife Jane Seymour just months prior to the birth of Magdalen. Despite the Protestant Reformation sweeping the country, Magdalen Dacre, along with her siblings, were raised Roman Catholic by her family.
Her paternal grandparents were Thomas Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre, of Gilsland, 1st Baron Greystoke, and Elizabeth Greystoke, and her maternal grandparents were George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, and Anne Hastings, daughter of William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings and Katherine Neville. She had five brothers and five sisters. Her father was the English Warden of the Scottish Marches and Governor of Carlisle.
Magdalen served as a gentlewoman to Anne Sapcote, Countess of Bedford when she was 13.
In 1553 Edward VI, the boy king who succeeded Henry VIII, died after six years on the throne, aged 15, the same as Magdalen. Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, became Queen of England, and England returned to Roman Catholicism. By 1554 Mary had turned her attention to finding a suitor and producing an heir to the Tudor dynasty, and became engaged to Philip II of Spain. The marriage took place at Winchester Cathedral on 25 July 1554 and Magdalen Dacre was selected as a Maid of Honour and took part in the bridal procession.
In E. S. Turner's The Court of St. James, Magdalen was described as having been very pretty and blonde. She was also very tall, and reportedly stood a head above the other maids of honour at court. Turner alleged that she attracted the attention of Philip, whom she had to beat off with a staff when he tried to embrace her.
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