English nobility, subject of a great scandal during the reign of James I. Daughter of Thomas Howard 1st Earl of Suffolk, she was married to the Earl of Essex at the age of 13 (he was a year older). Later she took on a lover, Robert Carr the 1st Earl of Somerset, and sought an annulment from Essex citing his impotence. As Somerset was a great favourite of the King, the annulment went through with no trouble. However, a friend of Somerset named Sir Thomas Overbury (qv) was horrified by this and begged his friend to end the relationship. Frances used the connections of her powerful Howard kin to have Overbury imprisoned in the Tower, and she later had him poisoned through her agent, Anne Turner. When the murder was eventually revealed, Turner was hanged and both Frances and Somerset were banished from court. Frances Howard, Countess of Essex and Somerset, spent the remainder of her life at the Howard mansion at Audley End, Essex, and died of ovarian cancer.
English nobility, subject of a great scandal during the reign of James I. Daughter of Thomas Howard 1st Earl of Suffolk, she was married to the Earl of Essex at the age of 13 (he was a year older). Later she took on a lover, Robert Carr the 1st Earl of Somerset, and sought an annulment from Essex citing his impotence. As Somerset was a great favourite of the King, the annulment went through with no trouble. However, a friend of Somerset named Sir Thomas Overbury (qv) was horrified by this and begged his friend to end the relationship. Frances used the connections of her powerful Howard kin to have Overbury imprisoned in the Tower, and she later had him poisoned through her agent, Anne Turner. When the murder was eventually revealed, Turner was hanged and both Frances and Somerset were banished from court. Frances Howard, Countess of Essex and Somerset, spent the remainder of her life at the Howard mansion at Audley End, Essex, and died of ovarian cancer.
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