[citation needed] In her childhood, she was raised in her father's royal household under Katherine Swynford, whom she held in high regard.

It is said that she had also been seduced by her cousin Richard II of England's half-brother John Holland, a known schemer, and had become pregnant by him.

[4] This forced her father to have her marriage annulled, and on 24 June 1386, at Plymouth, she hastily married Holland.

Holland, now bearing the title Duke of Exeter, was executed in 1400 for conspiring during the Epiphany Rising against his cousin, Elizabeth's brother Henry IV of England, who had by this time usurped the throne from Richard II.

That same year, Elizabeth married Sir John Cornwall, 1st Baron Fanhope and Milbroke.