Mother of the Maids (English royal court)
Mother of the Maids was a position at the English royal court.[3] Anne Poyntz was given a "billiment" head dress to wear at the coronation of Mary I of England, and took part in the Royal Entry.[4] Anne Poyntz died in 1554, and Dorothy Broughton was appointed in her place as Mother of the Maidens.Dorothy Broughton returned to court from Woodstock Palace where she was serving in the household of Lady Elizabeth, then in the care of Henry Bedingfeld.[8] When one of the maids, Eleanor Villiers, a daughter of Edward Villiers, was pregnant, she, her partner Henry Jermyn, and Beaumont, Mother of the Maids, were imprisoned in the Tower of London.