Anne Killigrew

Anne Killigrew (baptised 7 September 1607, died 6 July 1641) was a Lady in Waiting to Queen Henrietta Maria, and the first wife of George Kirke (died 1675) who was Groom of the Chamber to Charles I of England.

Anne's children include: Charles Kirke (1633–74), christened on 4 September 1633 at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster. Her niece, also called Anne Killigrew was also a lady-in-waiting.

Anne Kirke was appointed a dresser to Henrietta Maria in April 1637, and once seated with a fellow lady-in-waiting, variously suggested to be Anne Dalkeith or Charlotte, Lady Strange, Later Countess of Derby.

Accidental death Anne Kirke drowned at London Bridge on 6 July 1641, in an accident in which the royal barge capsized. Thomas Wiseman wrote, "The Court is very sad by reason of a great mishap happened to a barge coming through London Bridge, wherein were diverse ladies, and amongst the rest Mrs Kirke drowned. The barge fell on a piece of timber across the lock, and so was cast away. Lady Cornwallis, it is thought will not live". Some reports explained the barge was "shooting the bridge" a phrase used for traversing the rapid water.

Anne was buried in Westminster Abbey on 9 July 1641. It was reported that Queen Henrietta Maria, who had not been on the royal barge at the time of the accident, had "taken very heavily the news, and, they say, shed tears for her." Henry King's An Elegy upon Mrs. Kirk unfortunately drowned in Thames, and elegies by Henry Glapthorne and Constantijn Huygens.

Anne Killigrew's brother Henry Killigrew (1613–1700) named his daughter, the future poet and painter Anne Killigrew (1660–1685). She composed the poem On my Aunt Mrs A. K. drown'd under London-bridge in the Queen's Bardge Anno 1641, published in Poems (1686).