Margaret Bryan

For other people named Margaret Bryan, see Margaret Bryan (disambiguation).

Margaret Bryan, Baroness Bryan (c. 1468 – c. 1551/52) was lady governess to the children of King Henry VIII of England, the future monarchs Mary I, Elizabeth I, and Edward VI, as well as the illegitimate Henry FitzRoy.[1] The position of lady governess in her day resembled less that of the popular modern idea of a governess, more that of a nanny.

She was born Margaret Bourchier in about 1468 in Beningbrough, Yorkshire, England. Her mother was Elizabeth Tilney and her father was Sir Humphrey Bourchier, who was killed at the Battle of Barnet on 14 April 1471 during the series of dynastic civil wars now known as the Wars of the Roses. Humphrey Bourchier was heir to the title Baron Berners but having predeceased his father John Bourchier, 1st Baron Berners, Margaret's brother John instead succeeded to the title as second Baron Berners. Humphrey Bourchier and Elizabeth Tilney had one further daughter who survived to adulthood. Margaret's younger sister was Anne Bourchier (1470–1530) who married Thomas Fiennes, 8th Lord Dacre in 1492. Their son, also Thomas, was the 9th Lord Dacre who was executed for murder in 1541.

  1. ^ She was also Lady Governess to Henry's illegitimate but acknowledged son Henry FitzRoy, assuming her words of "When my lady Mary was born it pleased the King’s grace [to make] me lady mistress, and made me a baroness, and so I have been a m [other to the] children his grace have had since" are correct and her grammar is not incorrect as Henry VIII had no children between Mary and Elizabeth. If she had responsibility also for Henry FitzRoy that would have made her tenure as Mary's Lady Governess fairly short. Henry was born 15 June 1519, less than two and a half years after Mary. She was Lady Governess to Elizabeth for four years.