Elizabeth Grey, Countess of Kildare

Elizabeth had 13 siblings, including her eldest brother Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, who succeeded their father when he died in September 1501, when she was about four years old.

Two years later, their mother, Cecily married Henry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, which caused many quarrels over their inheritance.

Historian Mary Anne Everett Green described Gerald as having been quite handsome in appearance, and he in turn was pleased by Elizabeth.

Extant letters she wrote home to England, show that Elizabeth had taken a keen interest in the Irish political situation.

[11] Elizabeth's husband, the Earl of Kildare, who was imprisoned in the Tower of London on charges of corruption and plotting rebellion in Ireland, died in 1534.

Elizabeth retired to her brother Leonard's manor of Beaumanoir, in Leicestershire, while her younger sons were raised at court alongside Prince Edward.

Her eldest son, Gerald, who could not succeed to the earldom of Kildare as a result of its having been forfeited to the Crown, immediately went on the run in Ireland, where in County Tyrconnell, along with other disgruntled clans, formed the Geraldine League.

As a result of Gerald's successful escape, Lord Leonard Grey was attainted and executed for High Treason in July 1541 at the Tower of London by the orders of Henry VIII.

[12] After a career of fluctuating fortunes, he died in London in 1585, technically a free man but forbidden to return home to Ireland.