Nicholas Carew (Lord Privy Seal) the Royal Household. In 1371 he was appointed Keeper of the Privy Seal, the first layman to hold the post, and remained in office until the king's death in 1377. He was one of the group of courtiers around Edward III, including William, Lord Latimer, Lord John Neville, Sir Alan Buxhull, Richard Lyons, and the king's mistress Alice Perrers, who increasingly controlled access to and decisions emerging from the king as his health failed. Influential in the royal campaign in 1376 against William Wykeham, bishop of Winchester, he was named as an executor and trustee of the king's will. After
Alice Perrers King Edward, all while their relationship was a secret from his wife, Queen Philippa and the public. In 1364, aged 16, Perrers gave birth to a son later named Sir John de Southeray (c. 1364-1383). John later married Maud Percy, daughter of Henry Percy, 3rd Baron Percy, and his first wife Mary of Lancaster. A year later in 1365, Perrers gave birth to Jane (c. 1365-unknown). Jane married Richard Northland. Aged 18, Alice gave birth to her third child, Joan (c. 1366-bef January 1431). Joan married Robert Skerne, a lawyer who served as a tax official and a Member of