Joan Champernowne was a lady-in-waiting

Lady-in-waiting

A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a royal court, attending on a queen, a princess, or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman from a family highly thought of in good society, but was of lower rank than the woman on whom she...

 at the court of Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

. She became a close friend to his sixth wife

Wives of Henry VIII

The wives of Henry VIII were the six queens consort married to Henry VIII of England between 1509 and 1547. The six women to hold the title 'queens consort' of King Henry VIII were, in order:* Catherine of Aragon ,* Anne Boleyn ,...

, Catherine Parr

Catherine Parr

Catherine Parr ; 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen consort of England and Ireland and the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII of England. She married Henry VIII on 12 July 1543. She was the fourth commoner Henry had taken as his consort, and outlived him...

 and married Sir Anthony Denny

Anthony Denny

Sir Anthony Denny was a confidant of Henry VIII of England. Denny was the most prominent member of the Privy chamber in Henry's last years having, together with his brother-in-law John Gates, charge of the "dry stamp" of Henry's signature, and attended Henry on his deathbed. He also served as...

, who at the end of Henry's reign was widely considered to be his most trusted servant.

Biography

Joan was born in Modbury

Modbury

Modbury is a town and parish in the South Hams region of the English county of Devon. It is situated on the A379 road, which links it to Plymouth and Kingsbridge...

, Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

 on an unknown date, the daughter of Sir Philip Champernowne. She married Sir Anthony Denny, a trusted servant of Henry VIII, by whom she had twelve children, including:

• Henry Denny (died 1574), married Elizabeth Grey, by whom he had one son.
• Sir Edward Denny (died 12 February 1600), married Margaret Edgcumbe, by whom he had issue.

Joan was considered to be both beautiful and intelligent, and a member of the burgeoning Protestant faction at court, despite her husband's pro-Catholic inclinations. She was either the sister or cousin of Kat Ashley, the governess of Elizabeth I. The Tudor historian, Joanna Denny

Joanna Denny

Joanna Denny was a historian and author specialising in the court of Henry VIII of England. Her books include Katherine Howard: A Tudor Conspiracy and Anne Boleyn. Her books are usually considered to be sympathetic towards these women. She was published by Portrait Books, an imprint of Piatkus....

, was a descendant of Joan's.