Elizabeth Stanley (née de Vere), Countess of Derby, Lord of Mann (2 July 1575 – 10 March 1627), was an English noblewoman and courtier.

Her wedding or (more likely) that of Elizabeth Carey to Thomas, son of Lord Berkeley, was the occasion for the first performance of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

[1] Elizabeth Vere was born on 2 July 1575 at Theobalds House, Hertfordshire, the eldest surviving daughter of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, and Anne Cecil, the daughter of statesman William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Queen Elizabeth I's chief advisor and leading member of her Privy Council.

As Elizabeth's birth had occurred while her father was abroad on Grand Tour in France and Italy, upon his return to England he suspected her mother of adultery, and separated from her.

Following the death of Anne Cecil on 5 June 1588, Elizabeth and her sisters remained in the household of their maternal grandfather, Lord Burghley, where they received an excellent education.

[8] In the early years of their marriage, the couple's relationship was tempestuous and there were persistent rumours that Elizabeth had had affairs with Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Walter Ralegh.

Elizabeth returned to court as a Lady of the Drawing Chamber to Anne of Denmark in 1604, and introduced her younger sister Susan de Vere, later Countess of Montgomery, to the queen's household.

[10] As the Earls of Derby were the hereditary heads of state of the Isle of Man, Elizabeth's husband took up the title of Lord of Mann in 1609 following an Act of Parliament.