John Perrot

Sir John Perrot (7 November 1528 – 3 November 1592) served as lord deputy to Queen Elizabeth I of England during the Tudor conquest of Ireland. It was formerly speculated that he was an illegitimate son of Henry VIII, though the idea is rejected by modern historians. Early life Perrot was born between 7 November and 11 November 1528, probably at the family seat of Haroldston Manor near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire in Wales. He was the only son of Thomas Perrot (1504/05–1531) and Mary Berkeley (c.1511–c.1586), the daughter of James Berkeley (died c. 1515) of Thornbury, Gloucestershire. He had two sisters: Jane, who married Sir John Philipps, 1st Baronet of Picton Castle, and Elizabeth, who married John Price of Gogerddan. Perrot resembled Henry VIII in temperament and physical appearance, and it was widely believed that he was the bastard son of the late King. The main source for this belief was Sir Robert Naunton (husband of Perrot's granddaughter, Penelope), who had never known Perrot and used second-hand accounts to make his case. The case is weakened by the fact that Perrot was Mary Berkeley's third child, not her first, and that she and the King are not recorded to have been in the same place at the crucial time.