Elizabeth Grey, Viscountess Lisle

Elizabeth was the daughter of John Grey, 2nd Viscount Lisle and Lady Muriel Howard.[1] The death of her father in 1504 meant that she was born a considerable heiress and ward of the Crown. In 1509 her uncle, Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, obtained a lease of her lands from the king.[2] After the death of her stepfather Sir Thomas Knyvet in August 1512 and of her mother a few months later, Elizabeth's wardship was purchased by Sir Charles Brandon, a favourite of Henry VIII. Betrothal to his eight-year-old ward facilitated Brandon's elevation to the peerage as Viscount Lisle in May 1513.[3]

In 1515, Brandon married Mary Tudor, the queen dowager of France and Henry VIII's younger sister (without having obtained the consent of the King).[3] Having no need of Elizabeth as a potential bride himself, Brandon sold her wardship to Katherine Plantagenet, Countess of Devon for £4,000.[4] The countess married Elizabeth to her son Henry Courtenay, a cousin of the King and grandson of Edward IV of England, but as she died aged fourteen it is unlikely the marriage was consummated.[4] After her death the Lisle title passed to Arthur Plantagenet, the husband of Elizabeth's aunt.