a title in the English peerage. The wedding was celebrated by Peter Alibond, vicar of St Michael's, Chenies, at Bedford House in the Strand in the presence of her cousin Lucy Russell (née Harington), Countess of Bedford, with Bedford's usher John Stewart, Winifred Barnes, Captain Thomas Tyrie, and James Congleton. King James gave her an annual pension of £300, which she resigned in 1617. The Countess of Home frequently travelled to London. In June 1616 Anne Clifford recorded meeting her at the house of her cousin Lucy, Countess of Bedford. Celebrating an Anglo-Scottish marriage The couple had a historical connection; her grandfather Edward Sutton, 4th Baron Dudley had been the keeper of Hume Castle in the Scottish borders which had been captured from Alexander Home's grandmother, Mariotta Haliburton in 1548. This link was celebrated at King James's arrival at Dunglass Castle on 13 May 1617. The poet David Hume of Godscroft wrote a Latin verse to be said on this occasion which contrasted Mary's rebuilding of the earl's houses with the destruction wrought by her grandfather during the war of the Rough Wooing. He refers to the improving work of her English hand;Mentiar; aut nullis horrendam ducimus Anglam,Judice te; vultum respice, sive animum.Nec fera miscemus, truculento, proelia, Marte:Sed colimus, casti, foedera sancta, thori.Hinc surgunt mihi structa palatia, diruit AnglaQuae quondam, melior iam struit Angla manus:Hinc quam fausta tibi procederet UNIO, si sicExemplo, saperes Insula tota, meo.Either I'm a liar, or we think that an Englishwoman is not terrible in any respect, as you judge: just consider her countenance or her mind. Nor shall we join battles in cruel war, but rather we are observing the sacred laws of a chaste marriage. Hence a castle, built for me, which an English hand had once demolished, a better English hand is now rebuilding. Hence this union will go prosperously for you and your entire island, if you grow wise after my example. Life as a widow Alexander, Earl of Home died on 5 April 1619 in London in a house in Channel Row. Anne Clifford and the Countess of Bedford visited Lady Home there on 19 April. Lady Home was left wealthy, but she had to defend her young son's rights as Earl of Home as owner of large estates in Berwickshire and the Scottish Borders, with the help of his guardians and curators, and leading members of the Home family. Abraham