Margaret Bryan - Lady Governess

Lady Governess

Margaret Bryan became the Lady Governess for Princess Mary in February 1516. More well known primary evidence exists to connect her with Princess Elizabeth and Prince Edward. From August 1536, there is a widely quoted letter from her to Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's chief minister, in which she complains of the economic difficulties of the household of "lady Elizabeth" since the change in her status (from legitimate to illegitimate) following the annulment of the King's marriage to her mother Anne Boleyn, and Anne's execution in May.

Now, as my lady Elizabeth is put from that degree she was in, and what degree she is at now I know not but by hearsay, I know not how to order her or myself, or her women or grooms. I beg you to be good lord to her and hers, and that she may have raiment, for she has neither gown nor kirtle nor petticoat, nor linen for smocks, nor kerchiefs, sleeves, rails, bodystychets, handkerchiefs, mufflers, nor "begens."
(The more obscure items in this list are identified by the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edn) as: rails = nightdresses; bodystychets = corsets; begens = nightcaps.)

She also reports that: "My lady has great pain with her teeth, which come very slowly." (Elizabeth was to have serious difficulties with her teeth on and off for much of her life.)

Margaret Bryan passed over responsibility for Elizabeth to Catherine Champernowne in October 1537 following the birth of Prince Edward, who became her new charge. A second letter to Cromwell, dated 11 March 1539, describes the Prince.

My lord Prince is in good health and merry. Would to God the King and your Lordship had seen him last night. The minstrels played, and his Grace danced and played so wantonly that he could not stand still ...

A late mention of Margaret Bryan in the archives is a note referring to the payment of a 20 pound annuity to "Lady Margaret Bryane, the King's servant" in 1545.

She died in Leyton, now a suburb of London but at the time a village in Essex.