Margaret Wotton was the daughter of Sir Robert Wotton (1455-1519) of Boughton Malkerte, Kent and Anne Belknap (b.1460); married first William Medley, and second in 1509, Thomas Grey, 2^nd Marquess of Dorset (1477-1530).

Possibly Katherine Grey, Lady Maltravers (d. 1^st of May 1542), Anne Grey, Lady Willoughby (d. 1548), or Mary Grey, one of the other three daughters of Thomas Grey, 2^nd Marquis of Dorset, and Margaret Wotton.

What first gave me this idea was the following paragraph:

«But the most significant difference is in the lady's chin. No such cleft appears in any others of the Berry-Hill Type nor, for that matter, in any known portraits of Queen Elizabeth I. Cleft chins are statistically uncommon, even more so among women than among men. Of twenty-nine principal portraits considered in this study, for example, only the Syon Portrait depicts a woman with a cleft chin. Further, the development of a cleft chin is known to have a genetic or familial component, causing them to appear across across multiple generations of a single family. Significantly, the best known painted portrait of Jane Grey's paternal grandmother, Margaret Wotton Grey, reveals that she may have had a cleft chin. Equally significantly, none of the fully authenticated portraits of Katherine Grey Seymour depict her with a cleft chin.» J. Stephan Edwards, A Queen of a New Invention, p. 170

Could the above portrait be of another member of the Grey family? Specifically another one of the daughters of Margaret Wotton and Thomas Grey, 2^nd Marquis of Dorset, as she necessarily would have to have inherited the cleft in her chin from Margaret Wotton, and timewise that is the timeframe that fits, the portrait being dateable to about 1535.

The woman is dressed finely enough, though subdued, to be the daughter of a marquis. The sleeves looks as if they are made of red velvet. Black was an expensive dye, and the colour was consequently used to signify status. The woman wears gold rings set with precious stones. The billiments on her English gable hood in the style of the mid-1530's look as if it pearls and gold, though they could be some similee. Furthermore, she wears on her gable hood either a miniature or a brooch cameo, called in Tudor times a head of agate.

To determine which one she could be it is necessary to study each sister more closely.

Katherine Grey, Lady Maltravers was the first wife of Henry FitzAlan, 19^th Earl of Arundel in what was meant to be a double marriage between her and the then future earl and Katherine Grey's brother Henry and Katherine FitzAlan, her groom's sister.

Henry Grey, however, flatly refused to marry Katherine FitzAlan, sinking his mother and the rest of the family into debt and financial difficulties, fatally insisting on marrying Frances Brandon instead.

It has been said that the double Grey-FitzAlan marriage must have been brokered by Thomas Grey, 2^nd Marquis of Dorset, before his death in 1530. I find this unlikely, as he makes no allusion to this in his will. He specifically mentions his daughter Anne's marriage, which it would appear that he did indeeed contract on her behalf, but makes no mention of a similar arrangement for his children Katherine and Henry Grey. In fact, nobody named FitzAlan is mentioned in his will at all, and in a will that mentions all and sundry that is almost quite remarkable in itself.

The available evidence suggests that this was an alliance arranged by Margaret Wotton, Marchioness of Dorset after her husband's death, making her bitterness all the greater when her son refused to comply and instead landed her in financial difficulties for having broken the contract she herself had negotiated and committed herself to.

Henry FitzAlan, 19^th Earl of Arundel, was first married to Katherine Grey, daughter of Thomas Grey, 2^nd Marquis of Dorset, and Margaret Wotton. By her he had three children:

• Henry FitzAlan, styled Lord Maltravers (1538–1556)
• Jane FitzAlan (1537–1576/7), who married John Lumley, 1^st Baron Lumley
• Mary FitzAlan (1540–1557), who married Thomas Howard, 4^th Duke of Norfolk, and whose son, Philip, eventually inherited the Earldom of Arundel.

Katherine was one of the ladies who accompanied Princess Mary Tudor into Wales in 1525 and received a quantity of black velvet. She remained in the Princess's household until it was dissolved in 1533. Katherine was married to Henry FitzAlan between September and the 19^th of November 1532, the first occasion on which Katherine is named as the wife of Lord Maltravers. 

The fact that their first child, Jane, was not born until 1537, indicates that the marriage was not consummated right away.

Thomas Grey, 2^nd Marquis of Dorset was named as Grand Steward of Princess Mary Tudor's Household when she went to the Marches of Wales in 1525, but it seems to have been an honorary title whilst his daughter, Lady Katherine, actually accompanied Mary. Lady Katherine remained with the princess until her household was broken up in 1533.[] The fact that Katherine was chosen as a companion to the Princess could indicate that she was about the same age as Mary Tudor. The fact that her marriage was not consummated right away further seems to indicate a later birth year than the earliest possible, perhaps she was born closer to 1514–1515 than 1510–1512.

Regardless, Katherine was clearly of the age of the woman in this portrait.

Katherine's husband, Henry Fitzalan, 19^th Earl of Arundel's portrait was painted several times, including once by Hans Holbein and by Hans Eworth.

JANE FITZALAN (1536-July 7, 1578)

Jane Fitzalan was the daughter of Henry Fitzalan, 12th earl of Arundel (April 23, 1512-February 24, 1580) and Katherine Grey (1512-1542). Joan was given an education equal to any boy’s and was an avid translator of Greek and Latin. In 1550, she married John, Baron Lumley of Lumley Castle, Durham (1534-April 11, 1609). In 1553, she rode in the third chariot of state in Queen Mary’s coronation procession. She was chief mourner at her sister’s funeral (see next entry) on September 1, 1557 and was called upon to nurse her father at Nonsuch Palace in Surrey after Arundel’s second wife died on October 30th of that same year. He’d lost his son and heir, Jane’s brother, the year before. Jane was among Queen Elizabeth’s ladies of honor on the 1558/9 list. Joan had two sons and one daughter but they died young. She died at Arundel Place in London. In 1596, her husband erected a tomb to her at Cheam, Surrey. The Fitzalans were collectors and upon the earl’s death, Lord Lumley inherited the finest library in England. Upon his death, it passed to the Crown and became the core of the present day British Library. Included in it are manuscripts by both Joan and her sister. Joan translated Isocrates’ Archidamus from Greek into Latin and made a prose translation from Greek into English of Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulus. Biography: Oxford DNB entry under “Lumley [née Fitzalan] Jane.” NOTE: the DNB gives Jane’s birthdate as 1537. Portraits: 1563 by Steven van der Meulen; effigy at Cheam.

Jane FitzAlan – A Who's Who of Tudor Women

Their daughter Jane appeared to take after her father, appearance-wise:

I cannot detect a cleft in her chin.

From his paintings, it does however appear as if Katherine Grey's son, Henry FitzAlan (1538–1556), Lord Maltravers, had a cleft in his chin:

Nina Green gives the following biography of Anne Wentworth, Lady Maltravers:

«Anne Wentworth (1537 – 5 December 1580), Lady Maltravers, who inherited Gosfield Hall and entertained Queen Elizabeth there in August 1579. She married firstly, in April 1554, Sir Hugh Rich (d. 1 November 1554), son of Richard Rich (1496/7-1567), 1st Baron Rich; secondly Henry Fitzalan (1538 - 30 June 1556), Lord Maltravers, son and heir apparent of Henry Fitzalan (1512-1580), 12th Earl of Arundel; and thirdly her steward, William Deane (d. 4 October 1585), who inherited Dyne’s Hall in Great Maplestead, Essex. After the death of Lady Maltravers, William Deane married secondly Anne Egerton, widow of George Blythe, esquire, Clerk of the Council of the North in 1572, a younger daughter of Thomas Egerton, citizen and mercer of London, ‘who claimed to be descended from the Egertons of Wrinehill in Cheshire’. Her brother was Stephen Egerton (c.1555-1622), the Puritan preacher of St Anne’s in the Blackfriars»

Anne, Lady Maltravers, is mentioned in the will of her father, Sir John Wentworth (1494 – 15 September 1567) of Gosfield Hall, Essex.

«Item, I give and bequeath unto my loving daughter, Anne, the Lady Maltravers, my best basin and ewer parcel gilt, one pair of livery pots of silver and gilt, one nest of bowls of silver all gilt which I last bought at London, one pair of my best salts of silver all gilt, 2 silver spoons all gilt, and 2 beer-pots of silver all gilt with one cover, being part of the 3 beer-pots which I bought at London, six of my best silver candlesticks which I bought of the Master of the Rolls, one dozen of silver spoons with the 12 Apostles, one standing cup of silver and gilt, one dozen of silver candlesticks and 2 cruets of silver parcel gilt which served for my chapel, and one chalice of silver all gilt and 2 little candlesticks of silver which I lately bought of the Countess of Oxford, and one casting-bottle of silver all gilt serving for sweet waters; And also I give to her the whole hanging for the parlour, and I give unto her the best tester and celure which hath been commonly used in the chief chamber, and also I give to her my best carpet of needlework which I bought of William Wilford, esquire, and two cushions of cloth of gold;»

From her portrait it does look as if Katherine Grey's daughter Mary FitzAlan, Duchess of Norfolk could have had a cleft in her chin:

MARY FITZALAN (1540-August 25, 1557)

Mary was the younger daughter of Henry Fitzalan, 12th earl of Arundel (April 23, 1512-February 24, 1580) and Katherine Grey (1512-1542). Like her sister (above), she was well-educated and several of the translations she made from Greek into Latin have been preserved. In March 1555 she married Thomas Howard, 4th duke of Norfolk (March 10, 1538-June 2, 1572). His biographer, Neville Williams, speculates that Mary remained at Arundel Place for another year, continuing her studies, before the marriage was consummated. Mary had a son, Philip (June 28, 1557-November 19, 1595) but only survived his birth by eight weeks. She was buried in St. Clement Danes on September 1, 1557. Biography: Oxford DNB entry under “Howard [née Fitzalan], Mary.” Portraits: 1555 by Hans Eworth

Mary FitzAlan – A Who's Who of Tudor Women

Mary and Anne are the only two daughters who are mentioned by name in their father's will.

Mary is singled out two times in her father's will, which was written on the 2^nd of June 1530: «ALLSO I will my daughter marye have towardes hir marriage one thousand poundes so that she marye by thadvise of my wif, and after the deathe of my wif by thadvise of the more parte of myn executours [...] for lacke and defaulte of Issue male of my bodye laufully begotton I will that my doughter Marye have all and singulier my said [Manours?] londis and ten(emen)tis in the said counties of Combr and Lancastre to hur and to the heires of hur body lawfully begotton only»

She was probably dead before 1544, when she is not mentioned in the will of her brother-in-law Thomas Audley, Lord Chancellor, along with the rest of her family.

In all likehood she was probably dead before 1533, when it is written in the household accounts of Princess Mary that on Tuesday the 15^th of April, the Marchioness of Dorset, lady Matravers and her two sisters came to dine, implying that at that point there were only those three Grey sisters left.

The fact that she is singled out two times by name by her father could indicate that she was the eldest daughter, though this is by no means certain.

I still put her down tentatively as eldest daughter, though.

In all probability she died between the 2^nd of June 1530 when her father made his will and the 19^th of November 1532, the first occasion on which her sister is named as the wife of Lord Maltravers. Since her father singles out Mary two times in his will it is exceedingly likely that she was the eldest sister, and would have been the wife of Lord Maltravers herself if she had lived.

(The Maria uxor Walteri Douoreux Vicocom’ Heref. that is listed in the Heraldic Visitations of Leicester in 1619 as the daughter of Thomas Grey, 2^nd Marquis of Dorset and Margaret Wotton, was the daughter of Thomas Grey, 1^st Marquis of Dorset and Cecily Bonville and the Mary Grey who married Walter Devereux, 1^st Viscount Hereford prior to 1501. She was the sister of Thomas Grey, 2^nd Marquis of Dorset, not his daughter. That Mary was the aunt of this Mary.)

Since she may have died before or shortly after Holbein's return to England and before he started painting court personalities, I hold the likelihood for the lady in the portrait being Mary less likely than it being one of her sisters.

There is also a mysterious Lady Margaret Grey that keeps appearing in many documents as very favoured by Henry VIII.

For a time I had great hopes Mary could have been a misreading Margaret.

Because a 'Lady Margaret Grey' is well-documented. She first appears as a receiver of a New Year's gift from Henry VIII in 1534. She must have been quite an important lady, because she was also in the second chariot as one of the 29 female mourners in the procession at Queen Jane Seymour's funeral.

In fact, Lady Margaret Grey is present on every list of New Year's Gifts from 1534 until 1540.

I thought that the abbreviation 'Marg.' may have been used in some document or letter or another. Handwritten, this could have been easily mistook for 'Mary'. However, Lady Margaret Grey appears to be the aunt of these girls, another of the many daughters of Thomas Grey, 1^st Marquis of Dorset and Cecily Bonville.

This would make her the Margaret Grey who married Richard Wake, esquire. She is mentioned, as 'Margaret Grey', in the will of her brother, Sir John Grey, dated 3^rd of March 1523. If that is the case, she married exceptionally late by the standards of the time, as she appears in the list of receivers of New Year's gifts in 1540. Nevertheless, this appears to be the case. On the list of New Year's gifts for 1541, however, Lady Margaret Grey is ominously and conspicuously missing after having been present on them since 1534, indicating perhaps a marriage taking place at this time.

She is, however, still referred to as Lady Margaret Grey in the household accounts of Princess Mary for November 1543 and for January 1544 when she gave the Princess a high collar for a partlet.

The editor of the household accounts of Princess Mary reaches the same conclusion I do and identifies her as Graye, Grey, Lady Margaret, 51, 55, 135, 144. Daughter of Thomas Grey, Marquess of Dorset, and sister to Lady Kildare. She was subsequently married to Richard Wake of Hartwell, co. Northt., whim whom she lies buried, at Rode, in the same county.

So she was another aunt to these girls, not a descendant of Margaret Wotton, and therefore not in the running to be the sitter in this portrait.

Anne Grey (d. 1548) married Sir Henry Willoughby (slain on the 27^th of August 1549 during Kett's Rebellion) of Wollaton, Nottinghamshire, by whom she had two sons, Thomas (d. 1559) and Sir Francis, and a daughter, Margaret.

The Pathway to Prayer, originally composed in 1542, was later dedicated to Lady Anne Gray. It may be Lady Jane Gray's aunt, if this Anne was the third daughter of Thomas Gray, Second Marquis of Dorset,' Between request and song of hope: the horizon of prayer in Thomas Becon

However, the rest of the account is riddled with mistakes.

The dedication may very well have been to this Lady Anne Grey, however, as all of the Greys seemed strong in book learning and lacking in common sense.

However, as this Lady Anne Grey would probably have been known as Mistress Willoughby at this point, it is far more likely that the dedication is to one of her aunts by marriage. Thomas Grey, 2^nd Marquis of Dorset had two sisters-in-law who went by Lady Anne Grey, also after having been widowed by his brothers and their subsequent remarriages.

Anne was «married by agreement dated 20 Sept. 1528.»[] Initially, I took this to mean that she was at least at the canonical age of consent of 12 at this point, and in all probability older, however, her father's will makes it clear that Anne was in fact still under the canonical age of consent of 12 nearly two years later when he wrote his will on the 2^nd of June 1530.

«Allso I will that if the mariage solemnised and had betwene Anne my doughter and Henry Willowghby Esquier sonne and heire apparannt of s(ir) Edwarde Wyllowghby knyght be dyssolvid by reason and disag^r^ement of either of them at their laufull age of consent or by reason of dethe of the same Henry Willowghby and before carnall knowledge had betwene them that then the said Anne shalhave towardes hir mariage one thousand poundes sterling as hir other susters shalhave.»

Henry Willoughby was also under the canonical age of consent when the will was written, which was 14 for boys.

Ordinarily a marriage could not be contracted until the parties had reached the age of seven, but the Church found it difficult to enforce this as marriage alliances were so popular, and amended their stance on the matter to that an urgent need such as the desire for peace, not only internationally, but even between disputing landowners would be grounds for exception.

If we make the assumption, however, that both Henry Willougby and Anne Grey both were at least seven years old in compliance with the law when their marriage contract was drawn up in 1528, that means that Anne Grey was born between the 2^nd of June 1518 and the 20^th of September 1521 and Henry Willougby between the 2^nd of June 1516 and the 20^th of September 1521.

A birth of around 1520 seems to fit well for Anne Grey. Her eldest son was born around 1540, indicating that the marriage was consummated shortly before or around that time. All of the three surviving Grey sisters appear to have had their marriages consummated and their first child born when they were around 21–22 years of age.

As previously mentioned, the children born to the marriage of Lady Anne Grey and Sir Henry Willoughby were:

• Sir Thomas Willoughby (c.1540–1559)
• Sir Francis Willoughby (1546/7–1596)
• Margaret Willoughby (1544-1578+), who married her second cousin and the nephew of Queen Katherine Howard Sir Matthew Arundell (c.1533 – 24 December 1598) of Wardour Castle

«Arundell had a younger brother, Charles, and two sisters, Dorothy and Jane. Little is known of their early lives, except that after the execution of their father in 1552 their mother took her children to live in the Holy Roman Empire, where the family used the name of Howard. For this reason, Arundell is sometimes referred to as Matthew Arundell-Howard. In 1554, two years after his father's death, when he was about twenty-one, the Arundells were "restored in blood", meaning that their father's attainder was reversed so far as it affected them, and Arundell gradually succeeded in regaining most of his father's lost estates in Dorset and Wiltshire.

Arundell had been contracted to marry Katherine, one of the daughters of Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, but in the event she married Sir Thomas Cornwallis. In 1559 Arundell married Margaret Willoughby, a daughter of Sir Henry Willoughby, of Wollaton, Nottinghamshire, and wife Anne Grey.

As a child Margaret and her sister and brother had been taken in by Henry Grey, 3rd Marquess of Dorset, and his wife, Frances Brandon, after their father was slain in the suppression of Kett's Rebellion in 1549, and had grown up with Dorset's daughters, Lady Jane Grey, Lady Katherine Grey, and Lady Mary Grey. Margaret was present at Mary Grey's secret marriage on 16 July 1565 to the Queen's serjeant porter, Thomas Keyes, and was bequeathed a tankard of gold and silver in Mary Grey's will. As a young lady Margaret had previously served in the household of Princess Elizabeth at Hatfield House.»