Douglas Sheffield, Baroness Sheffield

Douglas Sheffield
Lady Sheffield
Born1542/1543
Died1608
Westminster
Noble familyHoward
Spouse(s)John Sheffield, 2nd Baron Sheffield
Sir Edward Stafford
IssueElizabeth Butler, Countess of Ormonde
Edmund Sheffield, 1st Earl of Mulgrave
Sir Robert Dudley (illegitimate)
FatherWilliam Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham
MotherMargaret Gamage

Douglas, Lady Sheffield (née Howard; 1542/1543[1] – 1608), was an English noblewoman, the lover of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester and mother by him of explorer/cartographer Sir Robert Dudley, an illegitimate son.

Seventeen years after Leicester's death she claimed in litigation that she had secretly been his wife, although she had herself remarried while Leicester was still alive.[citation needed]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference ODNB was invoked but never defined (see the help page).