Elizabeth Blount was one of the first known mistresses of King Henry VIII. Though sometimes seemingly on the outskirts of King Henry's loves, and being only a mistress, she seems to fade into obscurity compared to the more famous Anne Boleyn, but where King Henry was concerned there appears to be more advantages than too being his Queen. Yes, she was eventually discarded but at least she was able to keep her head. Elizabeth Blount not only managed to keep her head but managed to do what the majority of his wives did not. She managed to give birth to a healthy yet illegitimate male child, which grew beyond infancy and which Henry even considered making his heir. Elizabeth or ‘Bessie’ Blount’s birth of a male child was most likely one of the final nails in the coffin of Kin Henry’s wife Catherine, who at the time of the birth of the child was no longer able to bear children.
Elizabeth Blount Early Life: Mistress of King Henry VIII
Elizabeth’s father was Sir John Blount of Shropshire who was acquainted with the King through serving with him in the French wars and her mother was Catherine Pershall. Little is known about Elizabeth Blount’s family life apart from the basic details and she and her family could well have faded into the obscurity of history if it was not for her association with the monarch. Her early childhood would have been spent in Kinet, a small parish in the village of Bridgnorth, Shropshire but while she was still young, she was sent to court as a Maid of Honour in the retinue of King Henry’s then wife, Queen Catherine.
Elizabeth Blount Became the Beautiful Mistress of King Henry VIII
When King Henry’s eye began to stray from the Queen, it alighted on the beautiful Elizabeth Blount. That she was beautiful and charming, is one of the few facts that come down about her from history and that she was young and fertile made her contrast greatly with King Henry’s now old, infertile wife. She appears to have put up no defences against the Kings advances and went straight into the royal bed. Their dalliance proved fertile, when his marriage had not and in about 1519 she gave birth to Henry Fitzroy, acknowledged bastard of the King. The affair possibly lasted as long as six years until ‘Bessie,’ was displaced by Anne Boleyn’s sister, Mary.
Elizabeth Blount: After King Henry VIII
After her affair with the king, Elizabeth seems to have avoided court life. The King allowed Cardinal Wolsey to marry Elizabeth Blount off to a suitable person. Sir Gilbert Talboy’s wed Elizabeth and raised Henry’s bastard as his own. Royal favour seemed to have alighted on her son and when he was still young, Henry Fitzroy gained several important titles such as the Duke of Richmond and Somerset and Earl of Nottingham. If he had survived he may have been named King Henry VIII’s heir and history may have been very different. As it is Henry Fitzroy died of consumption in about 1536, which after a long life and second marriage also carried off Elizabeth Blount.
Sources:
Carroll.L, 2008, Royal Affairs, New York
Loades.D, 2009, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Amberley Publishing
Rachel Cooper - I am an amateur historian currently studying my Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Teaching. I always wanted to become an archaeologist but ...
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