Cecily was considered as a possible marriage candidate for
William, the eldest son and heir of the
Earl of Pembroke, who approached her influential uncle the Earl of Warwick with his proposal in about 1468. Warwick turned his offer down, as he considered the Earl's son to have been lacking in sufficient noble birth and prestige to marry a member of his family. About six years later, another spouse was found for Cecily; however, Warwick, who by then was dead (he was slain at the
Battle of Barnet in 1471 by the forces of King Edward having two years earlier switched his loyalties to the Lancastrians), had had nothing to do with the bridegroom that was chosen for her. She married
Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, on 18 July 1474, just over two weeks after her fourteenth birthday. He was the eldest son of King Edward's queen consort,
Elizabeth Woodville, by her first husband, Sir
John Grey of Groby (a Lancastrian knight who had been killed in combat at the
Second Battle of St Albans, the site of Cecily's great-grandfather's execution). It was Thomas's second marriage. His first wife, whom he had married in October 1466, was Anne Holland, the only daughter and heiress of
Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter, and
Anne of York. Anne Holland had died childless sometime between 26 August 1467 and 6 June 1474. Cecily's marriage had been proposed and arranged by Queen Elizabeth Woodville, who, with assistance from King Edward, persuaded Cecily's stepfather and legal guardian, Baron Hastings, to agree to the marriage, despite the latter's dislike of Thomas and the opposition of her mother, Lady Hastings, to the match. The Queen had that same year bought Cecily's wardship from Hastings to facilitate the marriage. The marriage accord stipulated that, were Thomas to die prior to the consummation of the marriage, Cecily would then marry his younger brother Sir
Richard Grey. This accord was confirmed by an
Act of Parliament. Cecily Bonville and Thomas Grey shared a common ancestor in the person of
Reginald Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn, who married twice; firstly to Margaret de Ros, and secondly to Joan de Astley. At the time of Cecily's marriage to Thomas, the latter held the title of
Earl of Huntingdon; he resigned this peerage a year later in 1475, when he was created
Marquess of Dorset. Being that women were not permitted to sit in
Parliament, Thomas sat in Cecily's place as Baron Harington and Bonville. Cecily's husband, a notorious womaniser, shared the same mistress,
Jane Shore, with his stepfather, King Edward. When the King died in April 1483, Jane then became the mistress of Cecily's stepfather, Baron Hastings. This new situation only deepened the sour relations between Hastings and Thomas. Jane Shore was instrumental in Hastings's defection from the side of King Edward's youngest brother,
Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who had been made
Lord Protector of the realm by the will of Edward IV. In this position of authority, Richard had gathered a force of friends, local gentry and
retainers, headed south in an armed
cavalcade from his Yorkshire stronghold of
Middleham Castle to take into protective custody and separate the young king from the Woodvilles, putting a prompt end to their ambitions and long dominion at court. Jane persuaded Hastings to join the Woodville family in a conspiracy aimed at removing the Lord Protector; and when Richard was apprised of Hastings's treachery, he ordered his immediate execution on 13 June 1483 at the Tower of London. Hastings was not attainted, however, and Cecily's mother was placed under Richard's protection. Thomas's maternal uncle
Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers, and his younger full brother
Richard Grey were both executed on 25 June 1483 by the orders of the former Lord Protector
King Richard III, who had three days earlier claimed the crown of England for himself. Richard's claim was supported by an
Act of Parliament known as
Titulus Regius which declared Thomas's half-brother the uncrowned King Edward V and his siblings illegitimate. Although Thomas and Cecily attended Richard's coronation, later that year, Thomas joined the rebellion of
Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, against the king. When this revolt failed and Buckingham subsequently executed, he left Cecily behind in England and escaped to
Brittany. There he became an adherent of
Henry Tudor, who would ascend the English throne as Henry VII following his success at the
Battle of Bosworth on 22 August 1485. During the time Thomas remained abroad in the service of Henry Tudor, King Richard ensured that Cecily and the other rebels' wives were not molested, nor their personal property rights tampered with. King Richard would be slain at Bosworth by the Lancastrian forces of Henry, ushering in the
Tudor dynasty. Thomas, however, had played no part in Henry Tudor's invasion of England, or the subsequent battle, having been confined in Paris as security for the repayment of a French loan to Henry. In 1484, Thomas had switched his allegiance back to King Richard after learning his mother had come to terms with him. He had been on his way home to England to make his peace with Richard when he was intercepted at
Compiègne by Henry Tudor's emissaries and compelled to remain in France. Notwithstanding her Yorkist family background and her husband's desertion of the Tudor cause in support of King Richard, she and Thomas (since returned to England) were both guests at King Henry VII's's coronation. The following month, the new king lifted the
attainder which had been placed on Thomas in January 1484 by Richard III for his participation in the Duke of Buckingham's unsuccessful rebellion. The Dorsets also attended the wedding of Henry and
Elizabeth of York in January 1486. Elizabeth was Thomas's eldest uterine half-sister by his mother's second marriage to King Edward. When she was crowned Queen consort in November 1487, Cecily and Thomas were present inside
Westminster Abbey to witness the ceremony. Cecily had been honoured the preceding year on the occasion of
Prince Arthur's
baptism, when she was chosen to carry the boy's
train while her mother-in-law, the dowager queen, stood as the Prince's sponsor. The ceremony had taken place at
Winchester Cathedral. Thomas and Cecily together had a total of fourteen children, eleven of whom survived to adulthood. The birth of her eldest son, Thomas, was noted in a letter from
John Paston II to John Paston III in June 1477:
Tydyngys, butt that yisterdaye my lady Marqueys off Dorset whyche is my Lady Hastyngys dowtre, hadd chylde a sone.
Children •
Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset (22 June 1477 – 10 Oct 1530); married
Margaret Wotton, by whom he had issue, including
Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk. Henry, in his turn, married Lady
Frances Brandon, the daughter of
Mary Tudor, Queen of France. Henry Grey and Frances Brandon were the parents of
Lady Jane Grey,
Lady Catherine Grey, and
Lady Mary Grey. •
Leonard Grey, 1st Viscount Grane (c.1478 – 28 July 1541)
Lord Deputy of Ireland; married Eleanor Sutton. He was attainted and executed at the Tower of London for
High Treason by the orders of
King Henry VIII. • Dorothy Anne Grey (1480–1552); married firstly
Robert Willoughby, 2nd Baron Willoughby de Broke, by whom she had issue, and secondly,
William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy, by whom she had issue. • Mary Grey (1491 – 22 February 1538); married 15 December 1503
Walter Devereux, 1st Viscount Hereford, by whom she had three sons, including
Sir Richard Devereaux, who was the grandfather of
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and
Penelope Devereux. •
Elizabeth Grey (c.1497 – after 1548);
Maid of Honour to
Mary Tudor, Queen of France and the latter's successor,
Queen Claude of France; married in about 1522
Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare, by whom she had issue, including Lady
Elizabeth FitzGerald, also known as "The Fair Geraldine", and
Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare. • Cecily Grey (c.1497-1554); married
John Sutton, 3rd Baron Dudley, by whom she had issue. • Edward Grey; married Anne Jerningham. •
Eleanor Grey; married
John Arundell (1474–1545), by whom she had issue. • Margaret Grey; married Richard Wake, Esq. • Anthony Grey; died young. • Bridget Grey; died young. • George Grey; entered clerical orders; nothing further is known about him. • Richard Grey; married Florence Pudney. • John Grey; died young. ==Later years==