Alice Perrers was notorious as the mistress of King Edward III of England. She was the wife of a William of Windsor, and was lady-in-waiting to Edward's queen, Philippa of Hainault. After Philippa's death, Perrers' relationship with Edward became semi-official, though she had probably already had at least one child by him, a son named John. Edward lavished extravagant gifts on her, including Philippa's jewelry and the manor of Wendover.

French chroniclers claimed Alice stripped the rings from Edward's corpse, but this may have been an attempt to discredit Edward's court rather than an accurate rendition of the facts.