Helena von Snakenborg Marchioness of Northampton

Laura Malpas relates the story of an extraordinary woman who came to England from Sweden at the age of 16 and reached the heights of the Royal court of Elizabeth I.

This month I’m sharing the life story of a 16-year-old Swedish girl who visited England 460 years ago and never left. Her long life turned into great adventure as she became the highest lady in England next to her close friend, Queen Elizabeth I.

Born to a noble family in Östergötland, Sweden around 1549, Helena was originally named Elin Ulfsdotter Snakenborg. Her father was close to the Swedish monarch King Gustav I, and as a privy councillor his children were close to the royal family. As a child, Elin considered Gustav’s son Karl, later to become king, to be one of her closest friends.

Elin was well educated and served at the Swedish court learning the role of courtier. Her beauty and intelligence endeared her to the Royal Family, and she became chief lady-in-waiting to Princess Cecilia Vasa. In 1564, aged 15 she accompanied the Princess and her husband on a difficult diplomatic mission to the court of Queen Elizabeth I.

Sweden was looking for English support for territorial claims in the Baltic, hotly disputed by Denmark amongst other nations. Princess Cecilia was also charged with finding English mercenaries to fight on Sweden’s behalf in the Baltic Sea. The most delicate mission of all was to encourage Queen Elizabeth to look favourably on the proposal for marriage to Cecila’s half-brother King Erik XIV.

Because of the conflict, especially with the Danes who blocked their passage, the nightmarish journey from Sweden to England lasted over a year and cost a fortune, vastly exceeding the budget. The royal party were forced to travel through Finland, Livonia, Poland and then Germany, before arriving at Calais. Enduring seasickness and illness, Elin must have felt grateful to land at Dover in September 1565, and to be greeted by Sir William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton heading the welcoming party. William was a high-ranking nobleman, and the brother of the late Queen Catherine Parr. At 52 years old, he was 36 years senior to 16-year-old Elin.

The Swedish Princess Cecilia and her husband’s entourage were comfortably accommodated, but they had arrived in debt and still continued purchasing luxuries.

The Swedes received a warm welcome at Court. Being well educated, able to speak English, and practising reformed Christianity rather than Roman Catholicism they made attractive visitors. Queen Elizabeth enjoyed the company of Princess Cecilia and also that of Elin. Both girls were praised for their beauty and grace. But the conversation about a Swedish husband for Queen Elizabeth did not progress far. And private negotiations between Princess Cecilia and the Spanish about other matters caused suspicion. Mounting debts did not improve the Princess’s status.

Just a few months after their arrival, the Princess and her husband were forced to leave England forfeiting most of their possessions in lieu of payment. However, there was one asset they left behind, Elin Snakenborg.

Queen Elizabeth and her court had become fond of the young girl with the red hair. Nicknamed ‘Helena the Red’, Elin changed her name to the anglicised Helena and embraced life in England. Elizabeth appointed her as maid-of-honour, and she soon became a confidante of the Queen. This role was close to the Queen’s person acting as a kind of finishing school for high born young women to prepare them for a good marriage. Helena received the queen’s favour and was well liked by many, not least because she was known to stay away from court gossip and intrigues. She was promoted to gentlewoman of the royal privy chamber and granted many gifts, including lodgings at Hampton Court, servants and a horse.

With the Queen’s favour, good looks and Swedish noble blood, Helena was sought after by many courtiers looking to marry well. Unexpectedly, she chose the nobleman whom she had met on her first day in England.

Sir William Parr, the 1st Marquess of Northampton was well-respected. He had inherited estates at Boughton and Greens Norton in Northamptonshire and fulfilled many roles in the county. As a child, he was the ward of Henry VIII and later was the ‘beloved Uncle’ to Henry’s son, young King Edward VI. Protestant William and his wife also led the attempt to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne, and for that he was convicted of treason and sentenced to death by Queen Mary. On her succession however, Queen Elizabeth restored his titles and estates, and William joined her inner circle.

Helena had made a great impression on Sir William at Dover. Despite the large age gap, he proposed to Helena, and she accepted. He offered status, security and wealth. Perhaps because of her early training and expectations of what it meant to be a noblewoman in the marriage market, she found the marriage acceptable, and unusually, the unmarried Queen approved of their engagement.

Things did not run smoothly. Sir William was recently widowed, but his first wife Anne Bourchier was still living. William and Anne had been married when he was 14 and she was 10, and their relationship was unhappy from the start. Their outlook on life was very different, Anne was uneducated and preferred life in the country, and William was a born courtier.

They did not live together for 12 years, and Anne was rarely visited court. An illegitimate child signalled the end of the marriage and William was granted a divorce in 1543. But the Church of England, and therefore the Queen as its head, did not allow for the remarrying of divorcees until the death of their former spouse.

The couple had to wait five years for Anne’s death. William was then 58 and Helena 22. They married a few months later in the presence of the Queen at Whitehall Palace. Helena Snakenborg then became the highest-ranking woman in England next to the Queen. As Marchioness of Northampton, she had access to wealth and status, but her married life did not last long. Five months after the wedding William died unexpectedly. He had not had time to provide a jointure for her life as a widow, as was customary, and she had not yet conceived a child. William’s estate passed on to a cousin leaving Helena with little.

As William had no heir, the title of Marquess of Northampton died with him, and it was not recreated for nearly fifty years.

Sad to see Helena widowed so soon, the Queen paid for a fine funeral for William and granted land to Helena, providing her with an income and a role as gentlewoman in the Queen’s Privy Chamber. Helena also retained the title of Marchioness of Northampton for the rest of her life and was granted the manor of Hemingford Grey in Cambridgeshire.

But a few years later, Helena incurred Elizabeth’s displeasure. Despite knowing the Queen’s attitude to secret courtship and marriage, she began a relationship with Thomas Gorges, a mere gentleman of the court. They married in secret in 1576, and the Queen was furious that Helena had married without her express permission and significantly beneath her noble status. Helena was dismissed from court and Thomas Gorges was sent to the Tower of London.

Elizabeth missed her friend and eventually the couple were permitted to return to court. Eight of their children survived to adulthood, and to house their growing family, Thomas and Helena built a castle in the fashionable Swedish style, three sided with rounded corner towers. Longford Castle’s design is also considered to have been influenced by the Triangular Lodge at Rushton, built ten years earlier.

As the Queen aged, Helena gained many responsibilities including acting in her place at many events. When the Queen died in 1603, as her closest confidante and the highest-ranking lady, Helena acted as chief mourner at her old friend’s funeral.

Following the coronation of King James, Helena proved her continued use to the Crown by acting as a go-between for King James and her childhood friend, now King Karl IX of Sweden. But she began to retreat from court preferring to reside at Longford Castle, where she died in 1635 aged 86. She was buried beside her second husband in Salisbury Cathedral where their tombstone remains.

Helena’s life in the Royal courts of Sweden and England show what was possible for a person with intelligence, good looks and good luck. She demonstrated a great deal of courage to leave all that was familiar to her to begin a new life in a distant land. And what a success she made of it. Her descendants were influential in England for generations, and her story shows how much power and influence a woman could wield, even in an era dominated by patriarchy.

The Northamptonshire Heritage Forum has something for everyone interested in learning more about our county’s history. If you would like more information, or are interested in joining the Forum and supporting its work, please visit www.northamptonshireheritageforum.co.uk