Donne married before 1465 Elizabeth Hastings, sister of William, Lord Hastings, the favourite of Edward IV, who was executed by Edward's brother King Richard III of England in 1483. Hastings had also been in the service of the Duke of York for all his adult life, so he and Donne must have known each other very well. The Donnes' surviving children were first two daughters, Anne and Margaret, then two sons Edward and Griffith (both later knighted). Elizabeth Donne died in 1507–8.