Elizabeth, Lady Coke (née Cecil, 1578 – 3 January 1646), was an English court office holder. She served as lady-in-waiting to the queen consort of England,
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and Queen of England and Ireland from the union of the Scottish and Eng ...
. She was the daughter of
Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, and Dorothy Neville, and the granddaughter of
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley. She was the wife of Sir William Hatton and later of
Sir Edward Coke.
Early life
In 1578, Hatton was born Elizabeth Cecil. Hatton's father was
Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter her mother was Dorothy Neville (1548–1609). Hatton's maternal grandfather was
John Neville, 4th Baron Latimer and her maternal grandmother was Lady
Lucy Somerset, daughter of
Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester and his first wife
Lady Margaret Courtenay. Hatton's paternal grandfather was
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and her paternal grandmother was Mary Cheke (died February 1543).
Marriages and children
In the early 1590s, Elizabeth married firstly, Sir William Newport ''alias'' Hatton (1560–1597), the son of John Newport (d.1566) of
Hunningham
Hunningham is a small village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. It is 3 miles to the north-east of Leamington Spa, within the Radford Semele ward. In 2005 the village population was 198. Hunningham village is part of the Manor of Hunni ...
,
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...
, and his wife, Dorothy Hatton (d.1566x70), the sister of
Elizabeth I's Lord Chancellor
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...
,
Sir Christopher Hatton
Sir Christopher Hatton KG (1540 – 20 November 1591) was an English politician, Lord Chancellor of England and a favourite of Elizabeth I of England. He was one of the judges who found Mary, Queen of Scots guilty of treason.
Early years
Si ...
. Newport had taken the surname Hatton when his childless uncle,
Sir Christopher Hatton
Sir Christopher Hatton KG (1540 – 20 November 1591) was an English politician, Lord Chancellor of England and a favourite of Elizabeth I of England. He was one of the judges who found Mary, Queen of Scots guilty of treason.
Early years
Si ...
, settled his estates on him as his heir. When Sir Christopher Hatton died in 1591,
Robert Greene dedicated his ''A Maiden's Dream'' to 'The right worshipful, bountiful, and virtuous lady, the Lady Elizabeth Hatton, wife to the right worshipful Sir William Hatton, Knight'.
William Hatton had earlier married, in June 1589, Elizabeth Gawdy, the daughter and heiress of
Sir Francis Gawdy (died 1605) and Elizabeth Coningsby, who died soon after the marriage, leaving an only daughter, Frances Hatton (1590–1623), who on 24 February 1605 married
Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick. After the marriage, Frances Hatton's grandfather, Sir Francis Gawdy, broke off relations with her.
After the death of William Hatton on 12 March 1597, and after a failed wooing by
Sir Francis Bacon, on 6 November 1598 Elizabeth married secondly,
Sir Edward Coke. The marriage was held at a private house at the wrong time rather than between 8 and 12 in the morning at a church. Subsequently, all involved parties to the marriage were prosecuted for breaching ecclesiastical law and Sir Edward had to sue for a
royal pardon
In the English and British tradition, the royal prerogative of mercy is one of the historic royal prerogatives of the British monarch, by which they can grant pardons (informally known as a royal pardon) to convicted persons. The royal prerogat ...
.
When
King James VI
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...
of Scotland set out to claim the English throne after the death of
Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
Eli ...
in 1603, the Cokes immediately began ingratiating themselves with the new monarch and his family. Elizabeth travelled to Scotland to meet the incoming Queen,
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and Queen of England and Ireland from the union of the Scottish and Eng ...
, and it was said that the high-tempered beauty managed to please the withdrawn, strong-willed Queen. Hence, she and her husband were able to hold the affection and trust of the Queen as long as she lived. She petitioned
Sir Robert Cecil
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, (1 June 156324 May 1612), was an English statesman noted for his direction of the government during the Union of the Crowns, as Tudor England gave way to Stuart rule (1603). Lord Salisbury served as the ...
unsuccessfully for the position of
keeper of the queen's jewels and to help dress her.
On 20 August 1613 Anne of Denmark was received at
Wells, Somerset. The mayor William Bull hosted a dinner for members of her household including Lady Hatton,
Lady Walsingham, and the four maids of honour.
Elizabeth was 26 years younger than her second husband and had a disposition that was hot-tempered and articulate. They were said to be not compatible but at least well-matched.
By 1604, Elizabeth's marriage to Sir Edward Coke deteriorated and she was said to have become a formidable character and thorn at her husband's side.
They quarrelled over their respective rights to the Hatton estate which Elizabeth had inherited from her first husband: the dispute became so bitter that the King intervened personally to mediate.
Elizabeth had two daughters by her second husband,
Frances Coke, Viscountess Purbeck, and Elizabeth Coke (who died unmarried).
Frances Coke was married in 1617 to
John Villiers, 1st Viscount Purbeck
John Villiers (c. 1591 – 18 February 1658) was an English courtier from the Villiers family. The eldest son of Sir George Villiers and Mary Beaumont, later Countess of Buckingham, he was the brother of King James I's favourite, George Vill ...
, the elder brother of
King James' favourite,
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, 28 August 1592 – 23 August 1628), was an English courtier, statesman, and patron of the arts. He was a favourite and possibly also a lover of King James I of England. Buckingham remained at the ...
. This was a major cause of marital strife between Elizabeth and her second husband, Edward Coke. Elizabeth opposed the match (presumably because Villiers was generally believed to be insane) and sent her daughter Frances away from Hatton House in
Holborn
Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London.
The area has its ro ...
without informing her husband. Her plans were to keep Frances in a rented house with the help of her relatives. Elizabeth placed her daughter with Lady Withipole, daughter of
Sir William Cornwallis, where she intended her daughter to be betrothed to
Henry de Vere, 18th Earl of Oxford. However, her husband later located their daughter by chance and took her away, keeping her locked up by legal means in various houses of his friends. Then in September 1617, Frances was married at
Hampton Court
Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chi ...
in the presence of the King and Queen to John Villiers. The marriage was a disastrous failure, and in 1621 Frances eloped with Sir
Robert Howard, with whom she lived in an unofficial union for many years.
Elizabeth and her husband were never reconciled: at his funeral she remarked "We shall never see his like again, thanks be to God".
Death and burial
Hatton died on 3 January 1646, and was buried in the parish church of
St Andrew Holborn
__NOTOC__
St Andrew Holborn was an ancient English parish that until 1767 was partly in the City of London and mainly in the county of Middlesex. Its City, thus southern, part retained its former name or was sometimes officially referred to as ...
.
See also
*
Hatton Garden
References
Additional sources
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External links
*The Thomas Gray Archive, University of Oxford, letter re wedding of Sir William Hatto
*Longueville, Thomas, ''The Curious Case of Lady Purbeck: A Scandal of the XVIIth Century'', (London: Longmans Green, 1909). Available in the public domain at Project Gutenber
*BBC News repor
(''6 November 2001'') on the exhumation of bodies, including that of Elizabeth Hatton, from St Andrew Guild Church, Holborn.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hatton, Elizabeth
1578 births
1646 deaths
16th-century English women
17th-century English women
17th-century English people
Household of Anne of Denmark
Daughters of British earls