Françoise de Paroy
Françoise d'Estamville, Dame de Paroy also called Mme de Parois[1] (died 1557), was a French court official.
She succeeded Janet Stewart, Lady Fleming as the governess of queen Mary, Queen of Scots in 1551, and remained in service until 1557. As Mary formally left the Royal Nursery in 1553 and started to attend court as an adult, Paroy's position would essentially be that of a chief lady-in-waiting, though official ladies-in-waitings were not engaged for Mary while she remained unwed.
Françoise de Paroy was described as a person with irreproachable character. However, she was not liked by queen Mary. Paroy frequently demanded more funds from Mary of Guise and Scotland to uphold Mary Stuarts' expenses: this was difficult for the poor funds of Scotland, but Paroy was also accused of being partly to blame for the poor monetary situation[1] and it was hinted though not explicitly said that she may have stolen money.[1]
de Paroy was favored by queen Catherine de Medici and therefore came to be viewed with suspicion, and Mary accused her of talking ill of her to Catherine.
The final conflict occurred in April 1556. de Paroy disliked Mary giving away her dresses to relatives as a deprivation of her own privilege to Mary's old clothes, something which also caused discord with Mary. This conflict resulted in Paroy being essentially relieved from her duties, though she was not formally fired.
She fell ill with dropsy in 1556 and was forced to leave court, and there was talk of a replacement, as it was not considered suitable for Mary to be without a female supervisor. De Paroy, however, formally kept her office until one year prior to Mary's wedding in 1558, after which Mary was instead given an official lady-in-waiting, Guillemette de Sarrebruck.
References
- Fraser, Antonia, Mary Queen of Scots, [New ed.], Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1994