She married Blount in a private ceremony conducted by his chaplain, William Laud, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, on 26 December 1605 at Wanstead House in London. This proceeding, carried out in defiance of canon law, was followed by the disgrace of both parties, who were banished from court by King James. The couple continued to live together as husband and wife with their children until his death a few months later. Blount died on 3 April 1606 and Penelope on 7 July 1607. Penelope's illegitimate children acknowledged by Charles Blount were: Penelope Rich, who, despite her surname, was a daughter of Penelope by Blount Mountjoy Blount (c.1597–1666), later 1st Earl of Newport Charles Blount St. John Blount Isabella Blount another child died in infancy Notes References Duncan-Jones, Katherine. "Sidney, Stella, and Lady Rich." In Sir Philip Sidney: 1586 and the Creation of a Legend, edited by J. A. van Dorsten, Dominic Baker-Smith, and Arthur F. Kinney. Brill Archive, 1986, , Google Books retrieved 21 February 2009. Hammer, P.E.J. The Polarisation of Elizabethan Politics: The Political Career of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, 1585–1597 Cambridge UP, 1999. A Historical Dictionary of British Women, Taylor & Francis Group, Routledge, 2nd revised edition 2003, Wilson, Mona, Sir Philip Sidney, London: Duckworth, 1931 External links The Correspondence of Lady Penelope Rich in EMLO 1563 births 1607 deaths English countesses Rich Daughters of British earls 16th-century English women 17th-century English women 16th-century English nobility 17th-century English nobility Penelope Penelope Penelope Date of birth unknown People from the Borough of Stafford Ladies of the Bedchamber Household of Anne of Denmark