Podcast Twenty-Three: Baroness Penelope Rich

A Woman Ahead of Her Time Born Penelope Devereux, she was the daughter of the queen’s nemesis, Lettice Knollys, and elder sister of the ill-fated Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex. Her father died in Ireland and her mother was often absent, so Penelope had to grow up fast and look after her younger brothers and sister. Her mother’s secret marriage to the queen’s favourite, Robert Dudley, did nothing…