Alice Spencer, Countess of Derby (4 May 1559 – 23 January 1637) was an English noblewoman from the Spencer family and noted patron of the arts. Poet Edmund Spenser represented her as "Amaryllis" in his eclogue Colin Clouts Come Home Againe (1595) and dedicated his poem The Teares of the Muses (1591) to her. Her first husband was Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby, a claimant to the English throne. Alice's eldest daughter, Anne Stanley, Countess of Castlehaven, was heiress presumptive to Queen Elizabeth I. She married secondly in 1600 Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley and thus became a member of the Egerton family. Family Alice was born in Althorp, Northamptonshire, England on 4 May 1559, the youngest daughter of Sir John Spencer, Member of Parliament and High Sheriff of Northamptonshire, and Katherine Kytson. She had three brothers and three older sisters. Marriage and issue In about 1579 Alice married her first husband, Ferdinando Stanley, heir to the Earldom of Derby, and a claimant to the English throne. His mother, Lady Margaret Clifford, was heir presumptive to Queen Elizabeth I from 1578 until her death in 1596. On 25 September 1593, he succeeded as Earl of Derby and Lord of Mann; from that date onwards, Alice was styled as the Countess of Derby. Together Ferdinando and Alice had three daughters: Lady Anne Stanley (May 1580 – c. October 1647), married firstly Grey Brydges, 5th Baron Chandos of Sudeley, by whom she had issue; secondly Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven, by whom she had issue. Lady Frances Stanley (1 May 1583 – 11 March 1636), married John Egerton, 1st Earl of Bridgewater, by whom she had issue. Lady Elizabeth Stanley (6 January 1588 – 20 January 1633), married Henry Hastings, 5th Earl of Huntingdon, by whom she had issue. Her husband died on 16 April 1594, and when his mother died two years later, Alice's eldest daughter, Anne became heiress presumptive to Queen Elizabeth I. Upon the Queen's death in 1603, however, the crown passed to King James VI of Scotland who was descended from Margaret Tudor, the elder sister of King Henry VIII, whereas the Stanleys were descended from his younger sister, Mary Tudor, Queen of France. For a month after his death, his company of players performed at their home of Lathom House, Lancashire as The Countess of Derby's Men. They had been at Lathom House shortly before