 According to Harris, Elizabeth's father saw that all his children received some education and her literacy is attested to by the fact that she was termed by the poet John Skelton an admirer and friend of the muses and his particular patron.Elizabeth came to court in 1509 as a lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon, and became the Queen's lifelong friend.Before 8 January 1513, when she was only fifteen and he was thirty-five years of age, Elizabeth became the second wife of Thomas Howard, then Earl of Surrey.