Audrey Walsingham

Lady Audrey Walsingham, née Shelton (1568-1624), was an English court office holder. She served as Lady of the Bedchamber to queen Elizabeth I of England, and then as Mistress of the Robes to Anne of Denmark from 1603 until 1619.

She was born to Sir Ralph Shelton and married Sir Thomas Walsingham, cousin of Sir Francis Walsingham. She served as Lady of the Bedchamber to queen Elizabeth I. In 1603, she was selected to be in the English entourage who met the new queen at the Scottish border, and accompanied her to London. She was appointed Mistress of the Robes, and given an allowance for life by the king.

She participated in the famous masques by queen Anne, and played the role of Astraea in The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses (1604), and Periphere in Masque of Blackness (1605).

She was rumored to have a relationship with Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, and in the anonymous poem O Ladies, Ladies Howle & and Cry she was accused of having caused his death together with Katherine Howard, Countess of Suffolk by infecting him with syphilis.

References

Court offices
Preceded by
Dorothy Stafford		 Mistress of the Robes to the Queen
1603–1619		 Succeeded by
Susan Feilding, Countess of Denbigh
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