Philippa de Coucy, Countess of Oxford, Duchess of Ireland (before 18 April 1367 – October 1411) was a first cousin of King Richard II of England

Richard II of England

Richard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...

 and the wife of his favourite, Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford, Marquess of Dublin, Duke of Ireland

Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland

Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, Marquess of Dublin, and 9th Earl of Oxford KG was a favourite and court companion of King Richard II of England.-Royal favour:...

.

Marriage

Philippa was born at Eltham Palace

Eltham Palace

Eltham Palace is a large house in Eltham, within the London Borough of Greenwich, South East London, England. It is an unoccupied royal residence and owned by the Crown Estate. In 1995 its management was handed over to English Heritage which restored the building in 1999 and opened it to the public...

 shortly before 18 April 1367, the younger daughter of Enguerrand VII, Lord of Coucy, by his wife Isabella

Isabella de Coucy

Isabella of England, also known as Dame Isabella de Coucy , was the eldest daughter of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault and the wife of Enguerrand VII, Lord of Coucy, by whom she had two daughters.She was made a Lady of the Garter in 1376.-Early years:Isabella was the royal...

, eldest daughter of King Edward III of England

Edward III of England

Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...

. She was named after her grandmother, Philippa of Hainault

Philippa of Hainault

Philippa of Hainault, or, Philippe de Hainaut was the Queen consort of King Edward III of England. Edward, Duke of Guyenne, her future husband, promised in 1326 to marry her within the following two years...

. In 1371, at the age of four, she was betrothed to Robert de Vere, who was himself only five years older and was already Earl of Oxford

Earl of Oxford

Earl of Oxford is a dormant title in the Peerage of England, held for several centuries by the de Vere family from 1141 until the death of the 20th earl in 1703. The Veres were also hereditary holders of the office of master or Lord Great Chamberlain from 1133 until the death of the 18th Earl in 1625...

. They were married on 5 October 1376; they had no children.

Like her mother, Isabella, Philippa was created a Lady of the Garter

Order of the Garter

The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...

. Her husband quickly became a favourite of the young King Richard.

Repudiation and divorce

In 1387, de Vere repudiated Philippa and Pope Urban VI

Pope Urban VI

Pope Urban VI , born Bartolomeo Prignano, was Pope from 1378 to 1389.-Biography:Born in Itri, he was a devout monk and learned casuist, trained at Avignon. On March 21, 1364, he was consecrated Archbishop of Acerenza in the Kingdom of Naples...

 granted him a divorce. De Vere had begun an affair with Agnes de Launcekrona

Agnes de Launcekrona

Agnes de Launcekrona, was the Czech Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen consort Anne of Bohemia who became the second wife of Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford, a favourite of King Richard II of England.- Origins :Nothing is known about the origins of Agnes...

, a lady-in-waiting of Richard II's queen, Anne of Bohemia

Anne of Bohemia

Anne of Bohemia was Queen of England as the first wife of King Richard II. A member of the House of Luxembourg, she was the eldest daughter of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, and Elizabeth of Pomerania....

, and he took Agnes as his second wife. This created a scandal throughout the kingdom; Philippa's royal uncles, the Dukes of Lancaster, Gloucester, and York were especially angered. De Vere's mother, Maud de Ufford, sided with Philippa and took her into her own household, saying that she held Philippa " more dear than if she had been her own daughter". Philippa continued to be styled as the Countess of Oxford and Duchess of Ireland.

Shortly afterwards in 1388, de Vere was disgraced and sent into exile in Louvain

Leuven

Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...

, Brabant

Duchy of Brabant

The Duchy of Brabant was a historical region in the Low Countries. Its territory consisted essentially of the three modern-day Belgian provinces of Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Antwerp, the Brussels-Capital Region and most of the present-day Dutch province of North Brabant.The Flag of...

. On 17 October 1389, the Pope declared the divorce invalid. He was killed while out hunting boar in 1392. Philippa became an attendant of Richard II's second wife, Isabella of Valois, whom she accompanied to France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

after Richard's death in 1400.

She died in October 1411 at the age of 44 years.