Elizabethan Ladies In Waiting

For our final design I have to produce a makeup look which is based on an Elizabethan Lady in Waiting. A Lady in Waiting is some one who attends to the queen, I had a few woman which I could pick from but I decided to go with Lettice Knollys.

Her background stood out to me and I thought she would be a very interesting character because she married Queen Elizabeth's one true love - but she was also Queen Elizabeth's cousin!

Background

Lettice Knollys was the cousin to Queen Elizabeth, she was Anne Boleyn's sisters, daughter. Her father was Sir Francis Knollys, he was Treasurer to the Household to Queen Elizabeth and her mother was Catherine Carey, the daughter of the eldest sister of Anne Boleyn.

In her portraits she looks so much like the Queen with the red hair, pale skin, the outfit and pearls she was wearing, her look and her whole image seemed to replicate Queen Elizabeth.

Then I looked in to her more and I found out more about her, she wasn't like Queen Elizabeth at all. She had lovely porcelain skin, natural red/golden hair, much more beautiful than Elizabeth naturally and that is why Elizabeth always was a little jealous of her cousin. She was a very fashion conscience lady who must have looked after her image. A Spanish Ambassador de Silva wrote about Lettice in 1565 -

 "one of the best-looking ladies ladies of the court."

Jenkins, Elizabeth. Elizabeth and Leicester. London: Phoenix Press, 1962. 124.

Queen Elizabeth was quick to let her cousin marry so she could have more of the attention back on to her, Lettice married Walter Devereux and they has 5 children together. Her husband was made Earl of Essex, so he had to go to Ireland - one tour as Lord Deputy and the second one as Earl Marshal of Ireland. Lettice was left at home with her children and there was soon rumours flying around that there was flirtatious acts going on between her and Robert Dudley.

They were soon caught out and her husbands sudden death made every one think it was a little plan of theirs to kill him off so they could be together. Queen Elizabeth was not happy they her one true love was wanting to be with her cousin, so they secretly got married. About a year later a French Ambassador told the Queen about the secret marriage and they were both told to retire. Robert was restored a year later but Elizabeth never forgave her cousin and only ever saw her once after that. Queen Elizabeth would avoid going to events if her cousin was going to be there and she didn't want to meet up with her cousin. It sounds like an Elizabeth soap which could be on TV!

Robert and Lettice had a happy life together and were so in love, when Robert died he left everything to Lettice but the Queen wasn't happy so she made her  sell some of the estates she had, basically wanted her to be left with nothing - which is maybe how she felt when she found out they both got married.

A year later though Lettice got married again, to one of her sons friends Sir Christopher Blout. There was family drama going on through their marriage, which ended up in the death of that husband too!

Since then, there was no record of what Lettice was doing apart from retiring in Drayton Bassett, she then died on Christmas morning in 1634 at a good old age of 94. The cutest part about her sad ending is that she was then buried next to her beloved Robert Dudley.

My View

I think that Lettice is a lady who falls in to difficult situations, you cant help who you fall in love with. She was very loyal to her family as she wanted to tell Elizabeth about her and Dudley but she couldn't, then when she did find out she asked to meet a few times but Elizabeth didn't want to. You can tell she was a very loving person, she loved Dudley so much and her children.

She was a very naturally beautiful woman, she was very into fashion so she must have kept herself up to date with all the fashion trends back then.
If we was in todays society I can see her being a massive style icon, doing her own thing, wearing what she wants, dating who she wants and doing what she wants. A powerful woman, even if people hate her she will try move on with her life and do what she can to put things right.

I can see her make up being flawless, her skin being smooth and silky soft. Her brows would be perfect, her lips would be full and her eye make up would either be natural with minimal make up or fierce and striking.

Either way she would look just as beautiful, I could see her looking like or getting inspiration from the likes of Kylie Jenner, Michelle Keegan or Cheryl Cole. They all have their own individual style, they set trends and people follow them. If Lettice was alive now I think she wouldn't be a follower she would be one of the trend setters.

http://www.berkshirehistory.com/bios/lknollys.html
http://tudorhistory.org/people/lettice/lettice.jpg

http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/letticeknollys.htm