Elizabeth Tilney, Countess of Surrey


The Countess of Surrey
The detail of a stained-glass window at Holy Trinity Church
BornBefore 1445
Ashwellthorpe Manor, Norfolk
Died4 April 1497
Thetford, Norfolk, England
BuriedPossibly at Thetford Priory
Spouse(s)Sir Humphrey Bourchier
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk
IssueJohn Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners
Margaret Bourchier
Anne Bourchier, Baroness Dacre
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk
Lord Edward Howard
Lord Edmund Howard
Lord John Howard
Lord Henry Howard
Lord Charles Howard
Lord Henry Howard (second of that name)
Lord Richard Howard
Elizabeth Howard
Muriel Howard
FatherSir Frederick Tilney
MotherElizabeth Cheney
OccupationLady-in-waiting
Lady of the Bedchamber

Elizabeth Tilney, Countess of Surrey (before 1445 – 4 April 1497) was an English heiress who became the first wife of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk (when still Earl of Surrey). She served successively as a lady-in-waiting to two Queen consorts, namely Elizabeth Woodville, wife of King Edward IV, and later as Lady of the Bedchamber to that Queen's daughter, Elizabeth of York, the wife of King Henry VII. She stood as joint godmother to Princess Margaret Tudor at her baptism.

Her eldest son was Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. Through two of her other children she was a grandmother of two queens consort of King Henry VIII, namely through her daughter Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire she was the maternal grandmother of Queen Anne Boleyn and through a younger son, Lord Edmund Howard, she was the paternal grandmother of Queen Catherine Howard. Thus Elizabeth's great-granddaughter was Queen Elizabeth I, the daughter of Anne Boleyn. Her son Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk's daughter, Mary, married the king's illegitimate son, Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset. Elizabeth is commemorated as the "Countess of Surrey" in John Skelton's poem, The Garlande of Laurell, written following his visit to the Howard residence of Sheriff Hutton Castle.