Blanche was buried with the ceremonial of a Baroness and her chief mourner at her funeral on 27th February 1590, who by custom was of the same status in society, was her great-niece, Frances (Vaughan) Lady Burgh (or Borough) of Gainsborough in Lincolnshire. In her Final Will, Blanche requested to be buried near her beloved nephew, John Vaughan, in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster[11] . Frances, described as 'the Queen's maid at Court' in 1579, was John Vaughan's daughter. Blanche had been a witness to Frances' and Thomas Burgh's marriage settlement Indenture of 1583, the other witnesses including Blanche's cousin Lord Burghley, the bridegroom, his parents and brother, Lord Burghley's elder son, and Thomas Burgh's maternal grandfather Sir Edward Fiennes de Clinton Earl of Lincoln. Clinton was the 'Admiral' shown in the picture of Queen Elizabeth's Presence Chamber [see note 6 above]. Another of Blanche's great-nieces, and John Vaughan's cousin's daughter, was Katherine Knollys, married to Robert, the fourth son of the Sir Francis Knollys[12] who held a succession of Court appointments including, in 1566, being the Treasurer of the Queen's Chamber. Katherine had served as Blanche's waiting gentlewoman.
Robert Knollys commented on the great sorrow at the time of Blanche's death shown by the Queen and the ladies of the Privy Chamber. Blanche was a contemporary of Queen Elizabeth's mother and had been with Elizabeth for fifty-six years. Indeed, Elizabeth had known Blanche all her life, since she was a baby. Blanche knew everyone of note at the Royal Court, they all knew her, and very many were related or connected to her[13] . It is clear that Blanche Parry was at the epicentre of the Elizabethan Royal Court and the confidante of Queen Elizabeth herself.
Blanche's Final Will of 1589 detailed numerous bequests including to the Queen, Lord Burghley, Francis Lady Burgh, Katherine Knollys and other friends at Court. She had appointed Lord Burghley as supervisor of her Will and her executors were her nephew Thomas Powell and Hugh Bethell who acted as Steward of her Yorkshire estates. It was Thomas Powell, described as 'of the City of London, gent.' who arranged for Blanche's tombstone in St. Margaret's Church Westminster. According to Welsh custom, as his father was Howell Watkyn he was ap (son of) Howell which he anglicised to Powell. On Blanche's epitaph he describes her as the daughter of Henry Parry, a name Blanche's father would not have recognised. Blanche's father was Henry Myles. It was his son, Blanche's brother, who first used Parry (from ap Harry, son of Harry / Henry) as a surname in the English fashion. The spelling variations of Blanch(e)'s own name include Parry, a Pary, or Apparry. Presumably Thomas thought it judicious to accord Blanche's father her English surname. His links with the Welsh border would seem to have weakened. So, although Thomas, and Hugh Bethell, with Lord Burghley's help, were meticulous in carrying out Blanche's final wishes and bequests it is unlikely that any of them would have thought about donating a piece of cloth to Bacton Church. Nevertheless, the embroidery reached Bacton somehow and the most likely conduits would seem to be Frances (Vaughan) Lady Burgh and Katherine Knollys.
They both knew of Blanche's regard for Bacton for the old manor house of Newcourt was Blanche's childhood home and the Church served as her family's mausoleum. Blanche had arranged before November 1578 for a tomb to be sculpted in case she retired to Bacton. After all, her aunt, Lady Troy, had retired to live with her son, but, in the event, Blanche never left Queen Elizabeth and died at Court. Katherine Knollys and her sister, Elizabeth
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[11] Despite later assertions that her bowels, then changed to her heart, were buried at Bacton Church Blanche's body was buried intact in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster. Bacton Church has her monument not her tomb.
[12] Sir Francis Knollys / Knowles was Lord Hunsdon's nephew. Lord Hunsdon was himself the Queen's nephew and was married to the grand-daughter of Lady Troy, Blanche Parry's aunt. Lady Troy was the Lady Mistress who brought up Elizabeth and Edward VI, the children of Henry VIII.
[13] Richardson 2007 for full details and references.