At the end of November 1558, or early December 1558, shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I, recently-widowed Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, remarried; his new bride was eighteen-year-old Margaret Audley, herself having been widowed the previous year.

On 11 November 1565, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, the elder brother of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, was married for the third, and what would be his final time. For the twice-widowed Warwick, now in his mid-thirties, his new bride was the eldest daughter of Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford, and member of Elizabeth I's household: 15-year-old Lady Anne Russell.