Frances Howard, Countess of Surrey

Frances de Vere Howard, Countess of Surrey ( de Vere; c. 1517 – 30 June 1577) was the second daughter and third child of John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford, and Elizabeth Trussell. She first married Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (executed for treason in 1547), and second Thomas Steyning.

Her father held the second oldest earldom in England, had solid landed interests and great influence at court, holding the hereditary title of Lord Great Chamberlain of England.

In April 1532, her father married her to Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, His request for trial by combat was refused, and he was tried in Guildhall on 13 January 1547. He was accused of treason and, despite the lack of any real evidence, beheaded on Tower Hill on 19 January, a victim of court politics. He was the last man to be executed under King Henry VIII's reign, aged just 28. The 3rd Duke was saved by the death of Henry VIII; but he remained imprisoned in the Tower of London with most of his property and titles forfeit to the Crown.

Frances gave birth to her daughter Margaret after her husband’s execution.

She lived in Suffolk until her death in 1577 and watched the fate of her five children from her first marriage more from a distance.

Frances' eldest son, Thomas Howard, succeeded his late grandfather of the same name at the age of eighteen in 1554. As a second cousin of Queen Elizabeth and one of England's richest landowners, he was one of Elizabeth's closest confidants. But like his father and grandfather, he also disappointed his sovereign, in his case Queen Elizabeth, by joining forces with Mary Stuart, formerly Queen of Scots and Queen of France and the pretender of the catholic feudal nobility at home and abroad to the English throne. He is even said to have been betrothed to Mary Stuart. And although Queen Elizabeth forgave him for his betrayal in 1570, he entered into an alliance with her enemies again shortly thereafter (Ridolfi plot). When he was again discovered plotting against the English queen, there was no more pardon. Frances therefore had to witness the execution of her son in 1572.

Her daughter Jane's husband, Charles Neville, the Earl of Westmorland, had also conspired against Queen Elizabeth in 1570 and had to leave England in a hurry because he could expect to be executed if he was caught. Jane did not follow her husband to the Spanish Netherlands, but remained in England.

Frances' and Henry's second son Henry, the Earl of Northampton, also corresponded with the Scottish queen. However, he got off with a prison sentence. By 1600, he was again among the leading advisors to the next English king, James I.

Frances de Vere died 1577 at Earl Soham, in the neighbouring village to Framlingham, Suffolk. In 1614 her son Henry had a monument erected in St Michael the Archangel's Church, Framlingham for his father, in which he placed not only his remains but also those of his grandfather and mother. Frances rests beside her husband with the blue boar of the de Veres at her feet.

Tomb of Henry Howard and Frances de Vere displaying the Howard and De Vere families coats of arms. Their two sons and three daughters kneel at the Head and foot of the tomb. Painted alabaster, 1614