Born 1348, Alice Perrers was an English royal mistress whose lover and patron was King Edward III of England. While there is no record of her birth, evidence suggests Alice was the daughter of a family named Salisbury and that she had at least one brother, John. Around 1360 at the age of 12, Alice married a man named Janyn Perrers. Perrers, who was a jeweller, died around 1364.
Sometime before 1366, Alice arrived at court and became a lady-in-waiting to Philippa of Hainault, the respected and matronly queen of Edward III. Shortly after, when Alice was 18, and the King was 55, Alice became the King’s mistress. When Philippa died of dropsy in 1369, the affair became more public.
Alice acquired numerous gifts from the King during their relationship and soon became an extremely wealthy woman with a fortune of more than £20,000 (£6,000,000 in 2016). She was so wealthy, she paraded around London in golden garments as “The Lady of the Sun” on the King’s command.
Over time, Alice would be accused of making Edward’s life a misery and luring him with her charms to further her own personal ambitions. Together, the couple had three illegitimate children. Because of the King’s advancing age and the fact that once he died, she would no longer have his protection, Alice contracted a secret marriage in November 1375. The wedding was to Sir William Windsor, a Westmorland knight who was appointed as the King’s lieutenant in Ireland. Because the 53-year-old was the Royal Lieutenant in Ireland, he spent long periods of time away from England and Alice (27 at the time.) The couple remained married until William’s death on 15 September 1384. The couple had no children.
Before Edward’s death, in 1376, Alice became subject to an ordinance that set penalities for all women (but specifically against her) who practised “maintenance”, the act of interfering in the due process of the law. Alice would ultimately be tried for corruption and banished from the kingdom by the Good Parliament. Because of this, she had to forfeit her land, but she was able to work and regain some of it when she later returned to England.
Alice died in the winter of 1400/1401 at the age of 52.
