Lady Audrey Walsingham (; 1568–1624) was an English courtier. She served as

Lady of the Bedchamber Lady of the Bedchamber is the title of a lady-in-waiting holding the official position of personal attendant on a British queen regnant or queen consort. The position is traditionally held by the wife of a peer. They are ranked between the Mis ...

to queen

Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

, and then as

Mistress of the Robes The mistress of the robes was the senior lady in the Royal Household of the United Kingdom. Formerly responsible for the queen consort's/regnant's clothes and jewellery (as the name implies), the post had the responsibility for arranging the rota ...

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 The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional fo ...

from 1603 until 1619.

Family connections

Sometimes called "Etheldreda", she was born on 10 June 1568 to Sir Ralph Shelton of Shelton, Norfolk and Mary Woodhouse, daughter of William Woodhouse of

Waxham Waxham is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sea Palling, in the North Norfolk district, in the county of Norfolk, England. It lies on the north-east coast of the county. Buildings in the village include Waxham Hall, the 14t ...

. Her mother died five days after her birth. Her father was a son of

Sir John Shelton Sir John Shelton (1476/7 – 1539) of Shelton in Norfolk, England, was a courtier to King Henry VIII. Through his marriage to Anne Boleyn, a sister and co-heiress of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire of Blickling Hall in Norfolk, he became ...

and Margaret Parker, daughter of the heir to Henry, Lord Morley. John Shelton's mother was Anne Shelton née Boleyn, aunt of

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...

, Henry VIII's queen, and his sisters included

Madge Shelton Margaret Shelton (likely died before 1555) was the sister of Mary Shelton, and was once thought to be a mistress of Henry VIII of England. Family Both Margaret and Mary were daughters of Sir John Shelton and his wife Anne, the sister of Thomas ...

and

Mary Shelton Mary Shelton (1510-1515 – 1570/71) was one of the contributors to the Devonshire manuscript. Either she or her sister Madge Shelton may have been a mistress of King Henry VIII. Family Both Margaret and Mary were daughters of Sir John Shel ...

. Her aunt

married Sir John Scudamore. Audrey Shelton married Sir Thomas Walsingham, cousin of Sir

Francis Walsingham Sir Francis Walsingham ( – 6 April 1590) was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England from 20 December 1573 until his death and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster". Born to a well-connected family of gentry, Wals ...

. Their home was Scadbury Manor at Chislehurst. Elizabeth I Rainbow Portrait3

Lady of the Bedchamber to Elizabeth

She served as Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth. She signed an inventory of the wardrobe of Queen Elizabeth in July 1600. In 1600 the

Earl of Northumberland The title of Earl of Northumberland has been created several times in the Peerage of England and of Great Britain, succeeding the title Earl of Northumbria. Its most famous holders are the House of Percy (''alias'' Perci), who were the most po ...

presented Elizabeth with a petticoat supplied by Lady Walsingham and a jewel bought from

John Spilman Sir John Spilman (also spelt Spielman) (died 1626) was a Lindau, German-born entrepreneur who founded the first commercially successful paper-mill in England, establishing a factory on the River Darenth in Dartford, Kent in 1588.Dartford: Cradle o ...

, the total value of his gift was £200. During Thomas Egerton's entertainment at

Harefield Harefield is a village in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England, northwest of Charing Cross near Greater London's boundary with Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the north. The population at the 2011 Census was 7,399. Haref ...

in August 1602, she was assigned in the lottery the prize of a cutwork

stomacher A stomacher is a decorated triangular panel that fills in the front opening of a woman's gown or bodice. The stomacher may be boned, as part of a corset, or may cover the triangular front of a corset. If simply decorative, the stomacher lies ...

in the lottery with these verses; "This stomacher is full of windows wrought, Yet none through them can look into your thought." Walsingham presented the queen with Egerton's gift of a gown or robe embroidered with rainbows and recited verses about

Iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...

and St Swithin. The historian Janet Arnold linked this presentation at Harefield with the "Rainbow" portrait of Elizabeth at

Hatfield House Hatfield House is a country house set in a large park, the Great Park, on the eastern side of the town of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. The present Jacobean house, a leading example of the prodigy house, was built in 1611 by Robert Cec ...

. The embroidery depicted in the portrait has some similarities with the contemporary petticoat formerly preserved at St Faith's

Bacton, Herefordshire Bacton ( cy, Bactwn) is a small village in a rural area of south-west Herefordshire, England, 14 miles (23 km) from Hereford. History One mile to the north are some earthwork remains of a small motte and bailey castle known as Newcourt Tump ...

Mistress of the Robes to Anne of Denmark

In 1603, Walsingham was selected by the Privy Council to join an English entourage sent to meet the new queen Anne of Denmark at the Scottish border, and accompany her to London. Her companions included the Countess of Kildare and the Countess of Worcester. A Venetian diplomat, Giovanni Carlo Scaramelli, wrote that the six great ladies were escorted to

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...

by 200 horsemen. Walsingham was in Berwick by the 27 May. On that day, Anne of Denmark left

Stirling Castle Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles in Scotland, both historically and architecturally. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, an intrusive crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological ...

, where she had suffered a miscarriage, for Edinburgh. The Countess of Kildare left her companions in Berwick that day, and went ahead to Edinburgh. At first, the queen was reluctant to make Walsingham and Kildare ladies of her Privy Chamber, but preferred

Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford ( Harington; 1580–1627) was a major aristocratic patron of the arts and literature in the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, the primary non-royal performer in contemporary court masques, a letter-writer, and a ...

. Walsingham was made a lady of the Privy Chamber, and

Anne Clifford Lady Anne Clifford, Countess of Dorset, Pembroke and Montgomery, ''suo jure'' 14th Baroness de Clifford (30 January 1590 – 22 March 1676) was an English peeress. In 1605 she inherited her father's ancient barony by writ and became ''suo jure'' ...

noted that she was a great favourite of

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 ...

at this time. She was appointed guardian and keeper of the robes by Anne of Denmark on 26 July 1603, the day after her coronation, and given a salary of 40 marks yearly. The role including buying "stuffs of gold, silver, tinsels or silks", and appointing tailors and embroiderers for the queen's apparel. In May 1604 she was granted an annual pension of £200 for attending the queen. According to

Arbella Stuart Lady Arbella Stuart (also Arabella, or Stewart; 1575 – 25 September 1615) was an English noblewoman who was considered a possible successor to Queen Elizabeth I of England. During the reign of King James VI and I (her first cousin), she marri ...

, Anne of Denmark asked Walsingham and the Countess of Suffolk to take Elizabeth's old clothes from a store in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...

for a masque at Christmas 1603. She also participated in the

masque The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A masque ...

s organised by Anne, playing the role of Astraea in ''

The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses ''The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses'' was an early Jacobean-era masque, written by Samuel Daniel and performed in the Great Hall of Hampton Court Palace on the evening of Sunday, 8 January 1604. One of the earliest of the Stuart Court masqu ...

'' (January 1604), and Periphere in ''

Masque of Blackness ''The Masque of Blackness'' was an early Jacobean era masque, first performed at the Stuart Court in the Banqueting Hall of Whitehall Palace on Twelfth Night, 6 January 1605. It was written by Ben Jonson at the request of Anne of Denmark, the ...

'' (1605). In February 1605 she was given £200 towards the expenses of the pregnant queen's "lying down or confinement. In May 1606 she was paid £300 for linen supplied to Anne of Denmark during childbed and for the use of Princess Mary. Another payment for linen and lacework during Anne's lying-in while pregnant with Princess Sophie amounted to £614. One of her servants died 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 chief ...

in October 1606 during a plague scare. In April 1608 she was confirmed as Mistress of the Robes with an annual fee of 40

marks Marks may refer to: Business * Mark's, a Canadian retail chain * Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain * Collective trade marks, trademarks owned by an organisation for the benefit of its members * Marks & Co, the inspiration for the novel ...

and two annuities worth £200 each. Anne of Denmark gave her presents of her old clothes, on 6 January 1611 she received a velvet gown with stripes of cloth of gold and gold lace. She was rumored to have a relationship with Robert Cecil (d. 1612), and in the anonymous poem ''O Ladies, Ladies Howle & Cry'' she was accused of having caused his death together with the Countess of Suffolk by infecting him with

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, an ...

. On 20 August 1613 Anne of Denmark was received at

Wells, Somerset Wells () is a cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, located on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills, south-east of Weston-super-Mare, south-west of Bath and south of Bristol. Although the population recorde ...

. The mayor William Bull hosted a dinner for members of her household including Lady Walsingham, Lady Hatton, and the four maids of honour. In August 1615 thieves took embroidered cushion and stool covers and sewing silk for embroidery weighing 40 pounds from

Whitehall Palace The Palace of Whitehall (also spelt White Hall) at Westminster was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698, when most of its structures, except notably Inigo Jones's Banqueting House of 1622, were destroyed by fire. H ...

said to belong to her husband, but may have been connected with the queen's wardrobe. The Venetian ambassador

Antonio Foscarini Antonio Foscarini (c. 1570 in Venice – April 22, 1622) belonged to the Venetian nobility and was Venetian ambassador to Paris and later to London. He was the third son of Nicolò di Alvise of the family branch of San Polo and Maria Barbarigo di ...

described his final audience with Anne of Denmark in a gallery at

Greenwich Palace Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

on 4 December 1615, accompanied only by the Mistress of the Robes and his secretary, Giovanni Rizzardo. The court physician

Théodore de Mayerne Sir Théodore Turquet de Mayerne (28 September 1573 – 22 March 1655) was a Genevan-born physician who treated kings of France and England and advanced the theories of Paracelsus. The Young Doctor Mayerne was born in a Huguenot family in Gen ...

noted she suffered from serious headaches or

migraine Migraine (, ) is a common neurological disorder characterized by recurrent headaches. Typically, the associated headache affects one side of the head, is pulsating in nature, may be moderate to severe in intensity, and could last from a few hou ...

.Henry Ellis, ''Original Letters'', 2nd series vol. 3 (London, 1827), p. 247. She died in May 1624 and was buried at St Nicholas, Chislehurst.

References

* Carole Levin, Anna Riehl Bertolet:
A Biographical Encyclopedia of Early Modern Englishwomen: Exemplary Lives and Memorable Acts, 1500-1650
', New York, 2017 * Leeds Barroll,
Anna of Denmark, Queen of England: A Cultural Biography
'

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walsingham, Audrey 1568 births 1624 deaths English courtiers Household of Anne of Denmark Ladies of the Bedchamber Mistresses of the Robes Court of Elizabeth I

Audrey Audrey () is an English feminine given name. It is the Anglo-Norman form of the Anglo-Saxon name ''Æðelþryð'', composed of the elements '' æðel'' "noble" and ''þryð'' "strength". The Anglo-Norman form of the name was applied to Saint Aud ...

17th-century English women 17th-century English people 16th-century English women