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Helena Ulfsdotter Snakenborg oder Snakenburg, 1565
Helena Ulfsdotter Snakenborg or Snakenburg (1549/50-1635), 1565

Helena Ulfsdotter Snakenborg or Snakenburg came to England as the youngest maid of honour of the Princess Cecilia of Sweden on 11th September 1565. Within a very short time she became the absolute sweetheart at the English Court: "The youngest maid of honour, Helena von Snakenburg, fair-haired, exquisitely pretty, and at her arrival fourteen years old [according to Charles Angell Bradford, who had intensively studied the life of Helena, the latter was 15 years old at the time of her arrival], had become a favourite with everyone from the Queen downwards. Lord Northampton's wife [his second wife, Elizabeth Brooke] had died in 1565, and the fifty-three-year-old peer wanted to marry the delightful little girl, who was artlessly elated by his suit. 'My dearest mother dear,' she wrote to reassure an anxious parent in Sweden, 'even if I brought him nothing but my shift, and give him happiness, he would ask no other wealth.' Northampton had said to the Princess [Cecilia von Schweden]: 'If Elin [her original name in Sweden] wants to remain in England after your departure, I promise to keep her as though she were my own daughter ... whether she prefers to stay with the Queen or at my house, she shall do as she likes.' Helena: 'My dearest mother, I cannot imagine I shall ever want for anything, however beautiful or expensive, that his Lordship can buy, without his getting it at once for his Elin.' Elizabeth [I.] loved the child; she made her a Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber. ... [Helena] married Lord Northampton in 1571, and the Queen attended the wedding. ... Northampton lived only six months afterwards, but after this short time of bliss, it was said, 'he sweetly ended his life'. The Queen always spoke of Helena as 'the good Lady Marquess', and the latter remained one of her intimate friends for the rest of the Queen's life. At her [the Queen's] death, the Marchioness of Northampton was the chief mourner in the funeral procession." (in: Elizabeth Jenkins: Elizabeth and Leicester, London 1961, pp. 138-139).

Born:
between October 1549 and March 1550
Deceased:
1. April 1635
Father:

Ulf Henriksson Snakenborg († before 1564)

Mother:

Agneta, daughter of Knut Knutsson

Siblings:

several siblings, for example:

  • her brother Jöns
  • her brother Jöran
  • her sister Gertrude, Maid of Honour of Queen Katharina, wife of King John III. Wasa of Sweden
  • her sister Karin Bonde († after 1640)
  • a sister, of whom we do not know the name and who was married to Christofer Gyllengrip (1518-1599), Chamberlain to the Swedisch King Eric XIV, Vice-Admiral, and Governor of Kalmar Castle
Spouse:
  1. William Parr, Count (or Earl) of Essex, Marquis of Northampton, born on 14. August 1513, deceased on 28. October 1571; marriage in May 1571; no children
  2. Thomas Gorges (1536-1610), clandestine marriage, which became publicly known in 1576
Children:

12 children, of whom eight became adults:

  1. her daughter Elizabeth, born at the end of March or the beginning of April 1578, deceased on 1. February 1659; since August 1596 married to her first husband Sir Hugh Smythe of Ashton († 1627) und since 28. September 1629 to her second husband, her cousin Ferdinand Gorges († 1647)
  2. ihr son Francis, born in 1579, deceased around 1599; in March 1596 he married the eight-year old Ambrosia († 1600), daughter and heiress of his cousin Sir Arthur Gorges
  3. her daughter Frances, born in 1580, deceased in 1649; in March 1599 she married Sir Thomas Tyringham of Tyringham († 1636/37) and had nine or ten children
  4. her son Edward, born in 1582, deceased probably around 1650; since 1605 he had been married to Catherine Osborne of Kelmarsh († 1633), Northants, widow of Edward Hazlewood of Maidwell Esq., two sons; since 1634 he had been married to Jane († 1665), widow of William Marwood and Sir John Livingstone
  5. her son Theobald, born in 1583, deceased in 1647; he was married to Anne, daughter of Sir Henry Poole von Saperton, and in 1645 to Anne, daughter of Sir John Gage, and had six children
  6. her daughter Bridget, born in 1584, deceased in 1634; she was married to Sir Robert Phillips von Montacute († 1638) and had nine children
  7. her son Robert, born in 1588, deceased in 1648; he married Mary († 1644), daughter and heiress of William Harding of Claygate, Surrey, and had several children
  8. her son Thomas, born in 1589, deceased after 1624

When Helena Ulfsdotter Snakenborg or Snakenburg died on April 1, 1635, she left behind 92 grandchildren.

Another Image:
Helena Ulfsdotter Snakenborg oder Snakenburg
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