Elizabeth Percy, Countess of Essex

Elizabeth Percy
Countess of Essex Viscountess Malden
Portrait of Lady Elizabeth Percy by Sir Peter Lely, 1653
Spouse(s)	Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
Issue Algernon Capell, 2nd Earl of Essex Anne de Vere Capell
Noble family	Percy
Father	Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland
Mother	Lady Anne Cecil
Born	1 December 1636 Petworth Manor, Sussex, England
Died	5 February 1718

Elizabeth Capell, Countess of Essex (1 December 1636 – 5 February 1718; née Percy) was an English noblewoman, the daughter of Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland. She was the wife of Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex. Elizabeth was the subject of a portrait by court painter Sir Peter Lely.

Lady Elizabeth was born on 1 December 1636 at Petworth Manor, Sussex, England, one of the five daughters of Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland by his first wife, Lady Anne Cecil. She had one older surviving sister, Anne who married Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield. Her paternal grandparents were Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, known by his sobriquet of The Wizard Earl, and Dorothy Devereux, the sister of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex. Dorothy Devereux was also a direct descendant of Mary Boleyn, the sister of Queen consort Anne Boleyn.

Elizabeth's maternal grandparents were William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury and Lady Catherine Howard. When Elizabeth was just a year old, her mother died; her father married secondly in 1642, Lady Elizabeth Howard. Elizabeth had a younger half-brother from her father's second marriage, Joceline Percy, 11th Earl of Northumberland.

On 19 May 1653 at Petworth, Elizabeth married Arthur Capell, 2nd Baron Capell of Hadham. On 20 August 1661, he was created Viscount Malden and the first Earl of Essex by King Charles II of England; Elizabeth was henceforth styled as the Countess of Essex. The marriage produced one surviving son and a daughter: