Frances Walsingham, Countess of Essex Frances Walsingham, Countess of Essex Frances Walsingham, Dowager Countess of Essex and Countess of Clanricarde (1567 – 17 February 1633) was an English noblewoman. The daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth I's Secretary of State, she became the wife of Sir Philip Sidney at age 16. Her second husband was The 2nd Earl of Essex, Queen Elizabeth's favourite, with whom she had five children. Shortly after his execution in 1601, she married her lover, The 4th Earl of Clanricarde, and went to live in Ireland. She was the only surviving child of Sir Francis Walsingham, Secretary of State for Queen
Edward Walsingham Edward Walsingham Edward Walsingham (died 1663) was an English royalist author, known for his verse of the First English Civil War and "Arcana Aulica", often wrongly attributed to Sir Francis Walsingham. According to Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, Walsingham was related to the Earl of Bristol. In the preface to the "Arcana Aulica" Walsingham is described in 1652 as one who, "though very young, in a little time grew up, under the wings and favour of the Lord Digby, to such credit with the late king that he came to be admitted to his greatest trusts, and was prevented