Biography of Anne Brandon Baroness Grey Powis 1507-1557

In 1507 Anne Brandon Baroness Grey Powis was born illegitimately to Charles Brandon 1st Duke of Suffolk [aged 23] and Anne Browne.

Before 7th February 1507 [her father] Charles Brandon 1st Duke of Suffolk [aged 23] and Margaret Neville [aged 41] were married. She the daughter of John Neville 1st Marquess Montagu and Isabel Ingaldsthorpe. They were half fourth cousins. She a great x 3 granddaughter of King Edward III of England.

After 7th February 1507 [her father] Charles Brandon 1st Duke of Suffolk [aged 23] and Margaret Neville [aged 41] were divorced. The marriage was declared void, the reason is unknown, by the Archdeaconry Court of London, and later by papal bull dated 12 May 1528.

In 1508 [her father] Charles Brandon 1st Duke of Suffolk [aged 24] and [her mother] Anne Browne were married secretly at Stepney [Map]. She, Anne, being the step-daughter of his first wife's [aged 42] sister Lucy Neville [aged 40]. They, Charles and Anne, had possibly been betrothed before his marriage to Margaret Neville. They were fifth cousins.

In 1511 [her mother] Anne Browne died.

In 1513 [her father] Charles Brandon 1st Duke of Suffolk [aged 29] was betrothed to Elizabeth Grey Countess Devon [aged 7]. He was created 1st Viscount Lisle in recognition of the betrothal.

In 1514 [her father] Charles Brandon 1st Duke of Suffolk [aged 30] was created 1st Duke Suffolk by King Henry VIII of England and Ireland [aged 22].

In May 1515 [her father] Charles Brandon 1st Duke of Suffolk [aged 31] and Mary Tudor Queen Consort France [aged 19] were married. She by marriage Duchess Suffolk. She had married Louis XII King France in Oct 1514; he had died on 01 Jan 1515. Around this time he surrendered the title Viscount Lisle which he had been created in anticipation of this marriage to Elizabeth Grey Countess Devon [aged 10] which never took place. She the daughter of King Henry VII of England and Ireland and Elizabeth York Queen Consort England. They were fifth cousins.

In 1525 Edward Grey 3rd Baron Grey of Powis [aged 22] and Anne Brandon Baroness Grey Powis [aged 18] were married. She by marriage Baroness Grey of Powis. She the illegitmate daughter of Charles Brandon 1st Duke of Suffolk [aged 41] and Anne Browne. They were fifth cousins. He a great x 4 grandson of King Henry IV of England.

Before 1527 [her brother-in-law] Thomas Stanley 2nd Baron Monteagle [aged 19] and [her sister] Mary Brandon Baroness Monteagle [aged 16] were married. She by marriage Baroness Monteagle. She the daughter of [her father] Charles Brandon 1st Duke of Suffolk [aged 42] and [her mother] Anne Browne. They were third cousin once removed. He a great x 4 grandson of King Edward III of England.

In 1533 [her brother-in-law] Henry Grey 1st Duke of Suffolk [aged 16] and [her half-sister] Frances Brandon Duchess of Suffolk [aged 15] were married. She by marriage Marchioness Dorset. She the daughter of [her father] Charles Brandon 1st Duke of Suffolk [aged 49] and Mary Tudor Queen Consort France [aged 36]. He the son of Thomas Grey 2nd Marquess Dorset and Margaret Wotton Marchioness Dorset [aged 46]. They were half second cousins. He a great x 5 grandson of King Edward III of England. She a granddaughter of King Henry VII of England and Ireland.

On 7th September 1533 [her father] Charles Brandon 1st Duke of Suffolk [aged 49] and Catherine Willoughby Duchess Suffolk [aged 14] were married. She by marriage Duchess Suffolk. He held her wardship and had intended to marry her to his ten years old son. In the event of the death of his wife, Mary Tudor Queen Consort France, ten weeks earlier he decided to marry her himself instead. The difference in their ages was 35 years. They were fifth cousin once removed.

On 1st March 1534 [her half-brother] Henry Brandon [aged 11] died at Southwark, Surrey [Map]. Earl Lincoln extinct.

In 1538 Anne Brandon Baroness Grey Powis [aged 31] left her husband Edward Grey 3rd Baron Grey of Powis [aged 35] for Randal Haworth.

In 1540 Edward Grey 3rd Baron Grey of Powis [aged 37] petitioned the Privy Council to punish his wife Anne [aged 33] for adultery, and also accused Anne and Randal Haworth of conspiring to murder him. No action was taken against Anne, and she remained with Randal Haworth; however, this scandalous arrangement caused her to be excluded from [her father] Charles Brandon's [aged 56] will.

In 1542 [her sister] Mary Brandon Baroness Monteagle [aged 32] died.

On 22nd August 1545 [her father] Charles Brandon 1st Duke of Suffolk [aged 61] died. His son [her half-brother] Henry [aged 9] succeeded 2nd Duke Suffolk, 2nd Viscount Lisle.

On 1st March 1555 [her brother-in-law] Adrian Stokes [aged 35] and [her half-sister] Frances Brandon Duchess of Suffolk [aged 37] were married. They had three children, two of which were stillborn, one of which died in their first year. She the daughter of [her father] Charles Brandon 1st Duke of Suffolk and Mary Tudor Queen Consort France.

In 1557 Anne Brandon Baroness Grey Powis [aged 50] died.

Henry Machyn's Diary. 13th January 1558. The xiij day of January was bered at [Westminster] in sant Margerett parryche my lade Powes, [daughter] to the [her father] duke of Suffoke, Charles Brandon, [with two] whytt branchys, xij torchys, and iiij grett [tapers,] with xij skochyons of armes.

Note. P. 163. Funeral of lady Powis. Anne widow of Edward lord Grey of Powis, whose death occurred in p. 7. She had remarried Randle Hanworth, esq.; and by the note of his will which Dugdale gives, Baronage, ii. 284, it appears that she desired to be buried either at St. Paul's or Westminster abbey. His interment was not at the parish church of St. Margaret's, Westminster, the register of which I have examined.

Note. P. 163. Funeral of lady Powis. Though the interment of this lady (as stated in p. 362) is not recorded in the parish register of Saint Margaret's Westminster, yet the following entries relative to her funeral occur in the churchwardens' accounts:

Item, of my lady Anne Pois for iiij tapers ijs. viijd.

Item, at the obsequy of my lady Anne Poys for the belles iijs. iiijd.

Item, of my lady Anne Pois for the clothe viijd.