Anne Clifford
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Lady Anne Clifford (1590-1676) was the only surviving child of George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland (1558-1605) by his wife Margaret Russell, daughter of the Earl of Bedford. The marriage was soured by the deaths of Anne's two elder brothers: her parents lived apart for most of her childhood. She was brought up in an almost entirely female household -- evoked in Emilia Lanier's Description of Cookeham -- and given an excellent education by her tutor, the poet Samuel Daniel. As a child she was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I of England; she also danced in masques with Anne of Denmark, queen of King James I of England. In 1656, she erected the Countess Pillar in memory of her late mother.