She held this position until her marriage. By 1590 Burghley was negotiating with Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montague, and Mary Wriothesley, Countess of Southampton, for a marriage between Elizabeth and Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton. However the match was not to Southampton's liking, and in a letter written in November 1594, about six weeks after Southampton had turned 21, the Jesuit Henry Garnet reported the rumour that 'The young Erle of Southampton refusing the Lady Veere payeth £5000 of present payment'. Lord Burghley soon found Elizabeth another husband. On 26 January 1595, she married William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby (1561 – 29 September 1642), at Greenwich Palace in the presence of Queen Elizabeth. It has been claimed that William Shakespeare wrote "A Midsummer Night's Dream" for the occasion of their wedding, and that the play was first performed at the wedding banquet, though the wedding of Sir Thomas Berkeley to Elizabeth Carey is the most popular candidate. In the early years of their marriage, the couple's relationship was tempestuous and there were persistent rumours that Elizabeth had had affairs with Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Walter Ralegh. The allegations concerning her relationship with Essex were particularly strong in 1596 and 1597. Whether there was any truth in the rumours remains unknown. Henry Lok wrote a sonnet to Elizabeth, published with Lok's other sonnets by Richard Field in 1597. Her husband was described as penning comedies for common players in 1599, and in 1601 she wrote to her uncle Robert Cecil against a ban on her husband's involvement in plays. The principal home of the Derbys was Knowsley Hall. Elizabeth returned to court as a Lady of the Drawing Chamber to Anne of Denmark in 1604, and introduced her younger sister Susan de Vere, later Countess of Montgomery, to the queen's household. Elizabeth was the queen's chief mourner in 1619. As the Earls of Derby were the hereditary heads of state of the Isle of Man, Elizabeth's husband took up the title of Lord of Mann in 1609 following an Act of Parliament, Elizabeth began taking over many administrative duties relating to the Isle's political affairs. She attempted to influence business on behalf of the Isle, and a letter written on 15 September 1609 by Elizabeth to her uncle Robert Cecil, regarding the shipment of money from the Isle of Man. In 1612, Elizabeth was appointed the first female Lord of Mann, a title she held until her death in 1627.