Frances Tyrrell

She was brought up in the household of Princess Elizabeth, daughter of James VI and I and Anne of Denmark.

She was connected to the Harington family, who had charge of the Princess at Coombe Abbey particularly through her uncle Sir Charles Montagu.

King James discovered that she had a set of 22 ruby studded buttons which Elizabeth had given to her, and made enquiries.

[3] Elizabeth explained in a letter to Ralph Winwood that she had given Tyrrell the buttons in recompense for her service.

They had been a gift to her from Anne of Denmark at York in 1603, in exchange for a chain of pearls that her father had sent.

In 1615 Princess Elizabeth gave Frances Tyrrell a set of ruby buttons, possibly depicted in this portrait by Robert Peake , National Maritime Museum