Elizabeth Knollys

Elizabeth Knollys, Lady Leighton , was an English courtier who served Queen Elizabeth I of England, first as a Maid of Honour and secondly, after 1566, as a Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber. Knollys was the grandniece of Queen consort Anne Boleyn, which made her a cousin once removed of the Queen. Lettice Knollys was her eldest sister. Elizabeth married Sir Thomas Leighton of Feckenham in Worcestershire in 1578. He served as Governor of Jersey and Guernsey.

Elizabeth Knollys was born onJune 1549, the second daughter and one of thechildren of Sir Francis Knollys and Catherine Carey, the daughter of Sir William Carey and Mary Boleyn. This made Elizabeth the grandniece of Queen Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII. She hadsurviving siblings, the eldest of whom, Lettice Knollys, would later be banished from court after secretly marrying Queen Elizabeths favourite, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester.

Source: Wikipedia