Philippa de Coucy

Philippa de Coucy (1367 – 1411) was a first cousin of King Richard II of England and the wife of his favourite, Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland.

Philippa was born at Eltham Palace, the younger daughter of Enguerrand VII, Lord of Coucy, by his wife Isabella, eldest daughter of King Edward III of England. She was named after her grandmother, Philippa of Hainault. In 1371, at the age of four, she was betrothed to Robert de Vere, who was himself only five years older and was already Earl of Oxford. They were married in 1376; they had no children.

Like her mother, Isabella, Philippa was created a Lady of the Garter. Her husband quickly became a favourite of the young King Richard.

In 1387 the couple separated and were allowed to divorce. De Vere had begun an affair with Agnes Lancecrona, a lady-in-waiting of Richard II's queen, Anne of Bohemia, and he took Agnes as his second wife. De Vere's mother, Maud, sided with Philippa and took her into her household.

Shortly afterwards, De Vere was disgraced and sent into exile in France, where Philippa's family came from. He was killed while out hunting boar in 1392. Philippa became an attendant of Richard II's second wife, Isabella of Valois, whom she accompanied to France after Richard's death in 1400.

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*Mary Anne Everett Green - "Lives of the Princesses of England" (1855)