Lady Alice Clere was the daughter of Sir William Boleyn and his wife Margaret Ormond (otherwise Butler), the daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond. Alice was thus the sister of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, and the aunt of King Henry VIII's second Queen, Anne Boleyn.[1]
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Alice married, as his second wife, Sir Robert Clere (c.1493 - 10 August 1529) of Ormesby St. Margaret, Norfolk, the son and heir of Robert Clere and his wife Elizabeth, the daughter and heiress of Thomas Uvedale.[2]
In 1533 Alice and her sister, Lady Anne Shelton, were placed in charge of the household of the King's daughter, Princess Mary.[3] Alice was also a senior member of the future Queen Elizabeth's household when she was a child living at Hatfield Palace in Hertfordshire. It has been supposed that Lady Clere was the kinder of the two guardians appointed to Mary. Lady Anne Shelton is believed to have been harsher.
Alice died on 1 November 1538, leaving a will dated 28 October 1538 which was proved 23 January 1539. Both she and her husband were buried at Ormesby St. Margaret.[4]