Anne Stafford

Anne Stafford, later Anne Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, was born around 1483. She was the daughter of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, and Lady Catherine Woodville. After her father was executed by Richard III, her mother later married Jasper Tudor, the Duke of Bedford.

She was married twice, first to Sir Walter Herbert, and after his death in 1507, she married George Hastings, 1st Earl of Huntingdon, two years later. In 1510, she was the subject of a sex scandal that involved King Henry VIII and Sir William Compton. Queen Katherine was expecting her second child when Anne's brother, Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, got wind of salacious rumours about his sister and came upon Sir Williams in Lady Anne’s chambers. Buckingham berated his sister, and her husband had her sent off to a nunnery. Sir William Compton was forced to take the sacrament to prove that he himself had not committed adultery with Lady Anne. And that is when the rumours began that the King had enlisted Sir William to be the go-between between himself and Lady Anne, ushering her into his chambers and arranging meetings between them. Adultery was never proven against her, and despite being in a convent, she kept up a loving correspondence with her husband. Unusually, though, in 1523, Sir William Compton took the step of bequeathing land to Anne in his will. Lady Anne Hastings is still, to this day, named as a possible mistress of King Henry VIII.

Source:

English Aristocratic Women, 1450-1550, Barbara J. Harris