On this day in history, 12th February 1590, Elizabeth I’s former childhood nurse and chief gentlewoman of the privy chamber, Blanche Parry, died. She was in her early 80s.
Blanche was buried in St Margaret’s Church Westminster, with funeral rites which were usually reserved for a baroness. She has a monument in St Margaret’s and also one in Bacton Church, her home village in Herefordshire, which bears an inscription of twenty-eight lines of verse recording Blanche’s service to her beloved Queen. This can be read in full at http://www.blancheparry.com/epitaph.shtml.
You can read more about Blanche in Sarah Rochel’s article “Mistress Blanche”.
