Portrait of Lady Ratcliffe, inscribed “The Lady Ratclif”. Black and coloured chalks, pen and brush and Indian ink, metalpoint, on pink-primed paper, 30.1 × 20.3 cm, Royal Collection, Windsor Castle. Water stain on right. Rubbed and partly reinforced later.

Mary Arundell, Countess of Arundel (died 20 October 1557) was the only child of Sir John Arundell of Lanherne, Cornwall, and his second wife, Katherine Grenville , a daughter of Sir Thomas Grenville.[1]

On 20 November 1530, Mary’s half-brother, Sir Thomas Arundell of Wardour, married to Margaret Howard. Margaret was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Jocasa Culpepper, and thus a sister to Queen Katherine Howard. Queen Katherine was the 5th wife of King Henry VIII. Katherine was executed for treason in 1542. She was succeeded by Queen Katherine Parr, who Mary Arundell would serve.[2]

Mary firstly married to Sir Robert Ratcliffe, 1st Earl of Sussex as his third wife in 1536/37. Ratcliffe had previously been married to Lady Elizabeth Stafford and Lady Margaret Stanley. Lady Elizabeth Stafford was the daughter of the 2nd Duke of Buckingham and a niece of the late Queen Elizabeth Woodville, consort to King Edward IV. Margaret Stanley was the daughter of the 2nd Earl of Derby and Anne Hastings.[3]

The Earl of Sussex was born in 1483. He was the son of John Radcliffe, 9th Baron FitzWalter and his wife, Margaret. He was appointed as a Knight, Order of the Bath in 1509. He was then appointed as a Knight, Order of the Garter in 1524. He became a Privy Councillor in about 1525/26. On 8 December 1529, he was created Earl of Sussex. He held the office of Chamberlain to the Exchequer between 1532 and 1542 and held the office of Great Chamberlain between 1540 and 1542. The Earl and Mary Arundell had two sons together. One who died in infancy and Sir John Radcliffe (1539-68). The Earl died on 27 November 1542.[3]

The Earl of Sussex is featured in the fictional depiction of the State Opening of Parliament in the Reign of King Henry VIII in the files at the National Portrait Gallery in London.[3]

On 28 October 1545, the widowed Mary remarried to Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel. The Earl was the son of William, 18th Earl of Arundel and Lady Anne Percy. By his father, Henry was cousin to Queen Katherine Parr. By his mother, Henry was also cousin to Queen Katherine and to Sir William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, brother-in-law to Queen Katherine Parr. Queen Katherine was known to favor kin over others when it came to picking ladies that suited her household.

Henry FitzAlan was born circa 1517. His story starts when he joined the household of King Henry VIII. He would then accompany the King to Calais in 1532. In 1533, he would be summoned to Parliament as Lord Maltravers. By 1540, he was made Deputy of Calais. He was appointed Knight, Order of the Garter on 18 May 1544. He would go on to serve the King in the War against France in 1545 as Lord Marshal. He would besiege and take Bolougne. On his return to England, he was made Lord Chamberlain. He held that position from July 1546 to January 1550. In July 1546, he was also made a Privy Councillor. He was part of the twelve Councillors nominated to assist as an executor in the will of King Henry, but held little power under the new rule of Somerset. He would then act as High Constable at the Coronation of Edward VI. The two had no issue. The Earl died on 24 February 1580.[5][6]

Mary Arundell died on 20 October 1557 at Arundel House, The Strand, London, England. She was buried on 28 October 1557 at St. Clement Danes Church, The Strand, London, England. At some point her body was buried at Arundel Castle. In 1847, a lead coffin, said to carry her remains was found there and is now buried beneath the floor of the FitzAlan Chapel there.[1]

Portrait

The Holbein drawing of ‘Lady Ratclif’ has been proposed as being that of Mary Arundell. The truth in the matter is that the sitter could have been a number of Lady Ratcliffes as Sir Robert Ratcliffe, 1st Earl of Sussex had three wives. However, Mary would have been known as Lady Sussex as the wife of the Earl of Sussex.

Art historian K. T. Parker tentatively favored his son Henry’s wife Lady Elizabeth Howard (d. c. 1536), daughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, and his second wife, Agnes Tilney, as the most plausible sitter, since Holbein drew other members of the Howard family. (K. T. Parker, The Drawings of Hans Holbein at Windsor Castle, Oxford: Phaidon, 1945, OCLC 822974, p. 41.)

Sources

1. Cokayne, G.E.; Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors. The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed.. 13 volumes in 14. 1910-1959. Reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000, volume I, pg 252.
2. Pine, L. G.. The New Extinct Peerage 1884-1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages With Genealogies and Arms. London, U.K.: Heraldry Today, 1972. pg 9.
3. Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke’s Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke’s Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume I, page 1442.
4. Joseph Sympson. Two scenes depicting the State Opening of Parliament in the Reign of Henry VIII (fictional), 18th Century. NPG Online.
5. G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume I, page 250.
6. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). “Arundel, Earls of“. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 706–709.