She was backed by Sir Robert Sidney, who considered himself the only legitimate heir of his uncles Leicester and Warwick.
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In 1603 Dudley initiated moves to prove that he was the legitimate son of his parents and thus the heir to the earldoms of Warwick and Leicester.
Lettice Sandford | Robert Knollys | Lettice Digby, 1st Baroness Offaly | Lettice Curtis | Lettice and Lovage | Knollys family | William Knollys, 1st Earl of Banbury | Lettice Mary Tredway | Lettice Cooper | Francis Knollys (the elder) | Francis Knollys, 1st Viscount Knollys | Eardley Knollys |
Gawdy had married Lettice Knollys, daughter of Sir Robert Knollys and Catherine Vaughan, and had eight children.
William married before 19 June 1602 Lettice Knollys (1583–1655), daughter of Sir Henry Knollys (c. 1542 - 1583), Member of Parliament representing first Shoreham, Kent (1563) and then Oxfordshire, Esquire of the Body to Elizabeth I (son of Sir Francis Knollys and Catherine Carey), and Margaret Cave (1549–1600), daughter of Sir Ambrose Cave and Margaret Willington.