ACEO, 2.5 x 3.5 inches, watercolor and gouache, August 2007 Lettice Knollys was born in 1540. She was the daughter of Sir Francis Knollys and Lady Catherine Carey. Catherine was the daughter of Mary Boleyn, Anne's sister, which made Lettice Elizabeth's cousin once removed. During Mary's reign the family, as protestants, fled to Switzerland but they returned on Elizabeths accession and Lettice became a Maid-Of-The-Court. In 1560 she married Walter Devereaux, later to be made Earl of Essex. She bore him two daughters but became bored of living in their house in Staffordshire and returned to court. It is here she began an affair with the Queen's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Elizabeth eventually sent Lettice back to the country having become suspicious of the pair. Lettice gave birth to a son in 1566, Robert Deveraux, who many believe was fathered by Dudley. She had another son by Walter in 1570. Walter died of dysentary in 1576. Lettice and Leicester resumed their affair and later secretly wed. When her father found out he insisted the ceremony be repeated and witnessed. Months later, to her fury, Elizabeth was made aware of the marriage - she branded Lettice a "She-Wolf" and banished her from court. Lettice and Leicester had a son but he died aged four in 1583. Lettice may have been banished from court but she often resided with her husband in London and dressed so finely that she was often mistaken for the Queen. In 1588 Leicester died of a fever. A few months later Lettice disgusted Elizabeth again by marrying her sons friend Sir Christopher Blount. She was 25 years his senior. Blount and Lettice's son Robert Deveraux were executed in 1601 after an unsuccessful rebellion against the Queen. Lettice retired to the midlands - she eventually died in 1634, aged 94 years, and was buried with Leicester.