Elizabeth Blount

Little is known of Bessie, except for reputed beauty and her famous affair with Henry VIII. The young girl came to the Royal Court of Henry as a Maid Of Honour to his wife, Catherine Of Aragon . It was there that she caught the eye of the king and quickly became his mistress, sometime around 1517 .

Their relationship lasted for some length of time, compared to Henry's other affairs which were generally short-lived. On June 15 , 1519 , Bessie bore the king an illegitimate son who was named Henry Fitzroy , later created a duke. After that, the affair was basically over and soon after the king's attentions fell upon the recently-married Lady Mary Boleyn , wife of Courtier Sir William Carey . For proving that Henry was not impotent when it came to the production of Royal sons, a popular saying - 'Bless 'ee, Bessie Blount' was often heard during and after this period, and persists today in some social quarters of England .

Bessie was married-off to Lord Gilbert Tailboys , who Rumour s reported to be the son of a madman. After that she does not figure much in the affairs of the Tudor monarchy. In 1529 , a palace chaplain remarked that Bessie was better-looking than Henry's fiancée, Anne Boleyn . The latter, although considered pretty, was not judged a great Beauty by Tudor standards. Bessie and Lady Mary Boleyn are the only two of Henry's mistresses to be popularly remembered. Although others did exist, those affairs lasted for a much shorter period of time. On June 18 , 1536 her son died.

Lord Gilbert also preceded her in dying, leaving Bessie a Widow . She was later remarried to Edward Clinton, 1st Earl Of Lincoln . Their only known daughter Katherine Clinton (known to have been buried on August 14 , 1621 ) was later wife to William Burgh, 2nd Lord Burgh (c. 1522 - September 10 , 1584 ) and mother to Thomas Burgh, 3rd Lord Burgh (c. 1558 - October 14 , 1597 ).

Henry had already gone through marriages to Anne Boleyn , Jane Seymour , Anne Of Cleves and the Teenage Catherine Howard by the time Bessie died in 1540 . Legend has it Bessie died of consumption, the same Disease that had killed her son.

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Elizabeth Blount

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