Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire
Family and early life
Elizabeth was born around 1480 into the wealthy and influential Howard family, as the elder of the two daughters of Sir Thomas Howard, later 2nd Duke of Norfolk, and his first wife Elizabeth Tilney. Her paternal grandfather, Sir John Howard, was created Duke of Norfolk in 1483 by King Richard III.
Family and early life
Her family managed to survive the fall of their patron, King Richard III, who was killed at Bosworth in 1485 and supplanted by the victor, King Henry VII, when she was about five years old. Elizabeth became a part of the royal court as a young girl.
Marriage and lady-in-waiting for the royal court
It was while she was at court, that she wed Thomas Boleyn, an ambitious young courtier, sometime before 1500, probably in 1498. According to Thomas, his wife was pregnant many times in the next few years but only three children lived to adulthood. The three children were:
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