Later in 1603 she married Sir John Kennedy, a Scottish member of the household of
King James recently naturalised by Parliament as an Englishman. Marriages between Scottish and English courtiers and aristocrats were intended by the King to promote Anglo-Scottish unity. Kennedy however was already married and determined to get through Brydges's money. Her dowry was said to have been £16,500. She pursued a legal claim for her share of the Chandos estate and Sudeley in 1603. In 1605, Kennedy refused to pay a disputed bill for embroidered garments bought by Elizabeth in the 1590s, claiming they had already paid. The items are detailed in a Chancery bill. Kennedy's exact identity may be obscure. A John Kennedy had been a cup bearer in the Scottish household of
Anne of Denmark, and John Kennedy, "apparent of
Baltersan" was described as a royal servant in 1601. Anne of Denmark was discouraged from appointing a "Mr Kennedy" as her chamberlain in 1603. The king is said to have written a letter of recommendation in Kennedy's favour to Brydges' mother Lady Frances, and certainly wrote in 1604 to Grey Brydges, who disapproved of the marriage, instructing him to be kind to them. However, at some point, Kennedy's previous marriage was discovered, and the couple separated. Kennedy was still in favour at court and took part in the masque
The Hue and Cry After Cupid on 9 February 1608, so presumably his troubles started in earnest after that date. Elizabeth made Kennedy move out of their house at
Barn Elms. On 3 September 1609 she was asleep at midnight and a physician
William Paddy was also in the house, when Kennedy attacked with a band of "furious Scots". According to
Dudley Carleton the raiders were equipped with hot irons ready to mutilate Paddy, suspected to be having an affair with Brydges. They escaped via the back door in a state of undress and found safety in the house of her cousin Elizabeth, wife of
Arthur Gorges at
Chelsea. Gorges wrote that she arrived "lyker to dye than lyve". Brydges had been unwell, a list of Kennedy's debts include sums for Brydges's lodging, her servant, and expenses for her physic and pregnancy. Her child, Francis Kennedy, had died in November 1608. Accounts vary about the status of the marriage, some stating that Sir John's first wife was dead. In September 1609, Brydges complained to
Archbishop of Canterbury about Kennedy's cruelty, and adulteries, and that he had a wife living when he married her. The circumstances were obscure at the time, and in November 1609 the King and the Chancellor of Scotland,
Alexander Seton, 1st Earl of Dunfermline, discussed how Kennedy should make a solemn oath about his first wedding, which might then reveal if it were possible to dissolve the present marriage as was wished, or not. On 26 September 1609
Viscount Lisle wrote, "My Lady Kennedy's cause has been heard before the council, but she disclaims that name and writes herself Elizabeth Bridges, pretending a former marriage in Sir John Kennedy". An undated petition to the king for her divorce mentions an unfavourable court decision in Scotland.
John Chamberlain heard she was divorced in October 1611, and that she might marry the poet
Henry Reynolds who was secretary to the
Lord Chamberlain and a friend of
Michael Drayton. Reynolds was soon looking elsewhere for a bride. She died on 7 October 1617 at Westminster. She was in fits or convulsions which led some to suspect she had poisoned herself. An old version of her story lays emphasis on Brydges as a spendthrift and Kennedy unable to satisfy her wants, seeking to extricate himself from the marriage by any means, with the help of the lawyer
Francis Bacon. However, Kennedy's known involvement with Bacon was in the years after the marriage break-up. In 1621 Bacon was accused of corruption in the case of Kennedy against the jeweller and financier
Peter Vanlore, for accepting his gift of a cabinet worth £800, which he later offered to Kennedy's creditor Timothy Pinkney. In 1615 Kennedy and Sir George Belgrave were put in the
Gatehouse Prison for falsely accusing a gentleman of slandering the
Duke of Lennox and the Scots at court. Kennedy died in 1622, leaving a will appointing his "only and naturall daughter Dorothy Kennedy" and the Duke of Lennox as his executors. When he died Dorothy was still a minor, so
Barbara Ruthven was appointed administrator. In August 1623 a "cadet" of Sir John Kennedy was discussed as owner of the Barn Elms property. ==Portraits==