Portrait of Lady Palmer, half-length, in a black dress with a white collar

The sitter was the daughter of Sir Francis Moore (1558-1621), a very able lawyer and Member of Parliament for Boroughbridge, Yorkshire (1588-9) and Reading (1597-8, 1601, 1604-11, and 1614), who became sergeant-at-law, of Fawley, Berkshire in 1614. She married Sir Geoffrey Palmer (1598-1670) and by him had four sons and three daughters.

Her husband, who was called to the bar in 1623, was an influential figure during the reign of both King Charles I and King Charles II. A staunch royalist, he was a member of the Royalist Parliament which met at Oxford 1643-4. He was committed to the Tower in 1655, on suspicion of raising troops against the government, but later released. On the restoration of King Charles II in 1660 he was appointed attorney-general.