Bessie Blount

Elizabeth Blount was the daughter of Sir John Blount and Catherine Pershall. Sir John Blount was very loyal to the royal family and rather unremarkable but still accompanied the King to France in 1513. We do not know much of her early life except that she was rumoured to be beautiful.

Bessie (nick-name) served as a maid-of-honour to Catherine of Aragon. She soon caught the eye of the King and became his mistress in around 1514-1515. History remembers Bessie Blount mostly because of the son she gave birth to whose father was none other than Henry VIII. Henry Fitzroy was the only son of Henry VIII that he acknowledged despite the child's illegitimacy. But the son was soon created Duke of Richmond and Somerset and Earl of Nottingham - these titles clearly show how excited Henry was to have a living son even though it was not with his wife.