Isabel le Despenser

Isabel le Despenser (born c. 1312) was the eldest daughter of Edward II's favourite Hugh le Despenser the Younger. Her betrothal sealed an alliance between her father and Edmund FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel, and in February 1321, aged about eight, she married Edmund's seven-year-old heir Richard.

When her father was executed for treason in November 1326, the marriage saved her: of his daughters, only Isabel and her youngest sister escaped confinement in a nunnery, Isabel because she was already a wife.

Richard became earl in 1331 but later repudiated her. The marriage was annulled and their son Edmund was declared illegitimate, losing his claim to the earldom. Isabel was still living in 1356 and had died by 1375.