She was a daughter of
Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham and
Catherine Carey. She was a maid of honour and lady in waiting to Queen Elizabeth I, as was her sister
Frances Howard, Countess of Kildare. As a
New Year's Day gift in January 1572, Queen Elizabeth gave her a red and white rose jewel that had been given to her by
Blanche Parry. She married
Robert Southwell (1563—12 October 1598) of
Woodrising, Norfolk, on 17 April 1583. He was the son of
Thomas Southwell and his second wife Mary Mansell, a daughter of
Rice Mansel (1487–1559). Thomas Southwell had a daughter with his third wife
Nazareth Newton (d. 1583), another
Elizabeth Southwell, who was a Maid of Honour to Queen Elizabeth. She was a mistress of
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex and mother of
Walter Devereux, who married Sir Barentine Moleyns or Molyns of Clapcot. After Robert Southwell's death in October 1598 Elizabeth Howard was left "a rich widow", and there was a rumour she would marry
Sir William Woodhouse of
Waxham, a cousin of her fellow courtier
Lady Walsingham. She became a lady of the Privy Chamber to
Anne of Denmark in 1603. Her daughter, Elizabeth Southwell, was also a maid of honour to Anna of Denmark. A letter of the
Earl of Worcester describing the household in 1604 mentioned that "of late the Lady Sothwell [is] for the drawing chamber". After 1608 her daughters Frances and Katherine were gentlewomen of the
Privy Chamber. A "Mrs Southwell", who made an unsuccessful trip to meet the queen in Scotland in May 1603, mentioned in the letters of Captain John Skinner from
Berwick-upon-Tweed, was
Anne Southwell, an author, the wife of a Sir Thomas Southwell. "Southwell the elder" was one of queen's ladies "taken out" of the audience to dance on 1 January 1604 at
Hampton Court during
The Masque of Indian and China Knights. In October 1604 she married
Sir John Stewart, a son of
Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Orkney, at
Chelsea. In a letter of 1605 to the
Earl of Salisbury she identifies her husband as the brother of the Master of Orkney. John Stewart became Lord Kinclaven in 1607, and
Earl of Carrick in 1628. She walked in procession at the
funeral of Anne of Denmark in 1619, listed as "Lady Kencleven". She died in 1646 and was buried at Greenwich. Christopher Sutton, rector of Woodrising dedicated his
Disce Mori (1600) and
Disce Vivere (?1604) to Lady Southwell, and his
Godly Meditations on the Most Holy Sacrament (1613) to her daughters Frances and Katherine. Portraits of Elizabeth Howard, her mother Catherine Carey, and her daughter Elizabeth Southwell were included in a sale at Cowdray Park in 2011. ==Family==