Elizabeth (20 page)

Romantic history has it that Elizabeth and Robert were imprisoned in the Tower together, where they met secretly and fell in love. In reality, from March to May 1554 Elizabeth was held in the Bell Tower, while the Dudley brothers were in the Beauchamp Tower from July 1553 to October 1554, the next tower along on the west wall. While Elizabeth was allowed to walk along the wide roof gutter between the two towers, she was easily observed from a
row of houses that faced Tower Green. Furthermore, Elizabeth was always attended by four guards, so it is unlikely that she could have seen or communicated with any of the Dudleys, let alone met Robert in secret.

In any case, there is no evidence to indicate that she would have wanted to at that time. As far as she was concerned, the Dudleys’ plotting, had it been successful, would also have deprived her of the throne – and possibly might have resulted in her death – so it is unlikely that she would have regarded them sympathetically. There are contemporary accounts of Elizabeth receiving notes and posies from an admirer, but it is more probable that these were from Edward Courtenay, who was also imprisoned in the Tower at the time, for his father’s implication in a Roman Catholic uprising, and who was also viewed by some as a possible husband for Elizabeth.

During the Dudleys’ incarceration, their mother, Jane, appealed to the Queen for clemency for her sons, ‘gifting’ her few remaining jewels and expensive items of clothing to those of the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting who might be persuaded to speak to Mary I about her sons’ release. After Jane’s death in January 1555, her friends, including Mary’s husband, Philip of Spain, continued to make her case, with the result that in October, John, Ambrose, Robert and Henry were released.

While Robert returned to Amy and their estates, in 1556 he joined his brothers, Ambrose and Henry, as part of the English army fighting in France on behalf of Spain – England and Spain were allied through Mary’s marriage to Philip. Their service to the Crown went some way towards the rehabilitation of the Dudley family fortunes, and in March 1557, Philip sent Robert back to London with some dispatches for Mary.
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The Queen welcomed the messages and rewarded the messenger and his brothers. Ambrose, the eldest surviving Dudley, was restored to the title of
Viscount Lisle. Robert’s confiscated lands were returned. He returned to the war, and in August 1557, was Master of Ordinance at the Battle of St Quentin, in which his 22-year-old brother Henry was tragically killed in the fighting.

During these years, Robert would probably have had little opportunity to meet with Elizabeth. However, a rumour, recounted in the State papers as well as in the letters of Hubert Languet, a French diplomat, suggests that they were in contact and were on quite friendly terms. Reportedly, a jeweller named Dymock, who was visiting the Swedish Court in 1562, was asked by the King of Sweden why Robert was such a favourite. He replied, ‘When she was but Lady Elizabeth … in her trouble he did sell away a good piece of his land to aid her, which divers supposed to be the cause the Queen so favoured him.’
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It is perhaps odd that neither Elizabeth nor Robert mentioned this as a reason for their friendship, but Elizabeth’s debts after Mary I cast her off, combined with Robert’s diplomatic astuteness, make the story plausible.

By 1558, Robert was living the life of a minor member of the nobility, although he appears to have had financial problems himself. Certainly, neither he nor Amy resided at Syderstone any longer; in fact it may have been too dilapidated to live in. With Robert primarily at Court in London, Amy moved around, staying with family and friends in comfortable houses, attended by a number of servants and accompanied by chests loaded with her personal possessions. So it was that Amy was living with friends, William Hyde and his wife Elizabeth, at Throcking, near Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, when Robert rode out on a ‘snow-white horse’
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to meet Elizabeth, the new Queen, at Hatfield, in November 1558, after Mary I’s death.

Robert showed to his best advantage on horseback. He was muscular, tall and long-legged, but more importantly, he was a very
skilled horseman, a talent that Elizabeth prized. On ascending the throne, Elizabeth made him her Master of the Queen’s Horses. In this post, he was responsible for the riding horses, pack-horses and mules belonging to the Queen and her household. The role also demanded that he remain in close attendance to the Queen. Robert held this post until he died. Although he was awarded other posts and positions, he attached great importance to this first sign of the Queen’s favour.

On 23 November 1558, Elizabeth left Hatfield for London, stopping at Charterhouse, the home of Sir Edward North, Baron North of Kirtling, whose son, Roger, was a close friend of Robert’s. On 28 November, she left in procession for London, riding in a chariot as far as Cripplegate, and from there she made her way on horseback. In front of her rode the Lord Mayor, carrying the sceptre, and the Garter King-at-Arms; behind her came William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, with the sword of state, and the Sergeant-at-Arms as her bodyguard. She was dressed in a habit of violet velvet and rode a white horse. Riding behind her came Robert, on a black horse, making his first appearance in his new role.

If the sight of this famous jouster on horseback was not enough, Elizabeth could also see Robert to great advantage on the tennis court. In Tudor times, the show of masculine beauty, skill and strength in tennis was considered very attractive, as evidenced by the vivid description of the young Henry VIII coming off the tennis court after a strenuous game, damp with sweat, his shirt clinging to the musculature of his body, his face delightfully flushed, his chest heaving for breath. Similarly there were reports that the Queen often came to see Robert play, as this account, made after 1564, when Robert became the Earl of Leicester, indicates: ‘… de Quadra complained that the Queen had failed to attend an important meeting … on the grounds that she was
indisposed, but in fact had gone to watch Leicester playing tennis.’
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Robert also excelled as a dancer, and Elizabeth loved dancing. Venetian Ambassador Giovanni Michiel wrote in 1557, ‘The Queen’s daily amusements are musical performances and other entertainments and she takes marvellous pleasure in seeing people dance.’ A further letter dated February 1559 showed that Elizabeth also liked to participate: ‘Last evening … at the dance the Queen performed her part, the Duke of Norfolk [Thomas Howard] being her partner, in superb array.’
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Rumours began to circulate about the Queen’s relationship with Robert Dudley. In April 1559, Spanish Ambassador de Feria wrote to Philip II, making his doubts known that the Queen would ever accept the pending suit of Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, as the current gossip was that she was in love with ‘Lord Robert’, a married man:

Signs of the Queen’s affection for Robert – and his for her – continued to grow more pronounced. On 23 April 1559, St
George’s Day, Robert Dudley was elected Knight of the Garter, a surprisingly high honour, normally limited to only the most esteemed nobles. The Venetian Ambassador to Brussels received a report that Robert was ‘a very handsome young man towards whom in various ways the Queen evinces such affection and inclination that many persons believe that if his wife, who has been ailing for some time, were perchance to die, the Queen might easily take him for her husband.’ Robert himself seemed a willing partner in this developing intimacy.
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The foreign ambassadors at Elizabeth’s Court focussed on any possible relationships that the Queen might have, concerned as they were by the crucial question of who might father the next monarch of England. While they believed that Elizabeth might consider an English husband, it seemed beyond the imagination of most that she would select Robert Dudley from a choice of suitors that included great princes and nobles.

The question of whether Elizabeth was fertile was also of considerable interest to them. In 1559, Ambassador de Feria wrote to Philip, ‘For a certain reason they have recently given me, I understand she will not bear children.’
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The Scottish Ambassador Sir James Melville had heard the same thing, probably surmised from reports that Elizabeth had erratic periods. This information would have come from chambermaids and laundresses who were paid a modest fee for their firsthand accounts, a valuable source of information for the vast number of foreign diplomats who wished to be able to report on the state of Elizabeth’s health and fecundity to their royal paymasters.

In 1559, the Venetian Ambassador reported, ‘Before leaving London, her Majesty was blooded from one foot and from one arm, but what her indisposition is, is not known. Many persons say things I should not dare to write [that the bleeding was to
compensate for her lack of periods], but they say that on arriving at Greenwich she was as cheerful as ever she was.’
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Despite these reports of missed periods and Elizabeth’s poor menstruation cycle, there is no record that the Queen’s doctors believed Elizabeth was unable to have children.

Apart from the fact that Robert Dudley was already married, a major stumbling block to any marriage plans was his rank. Although it was not unknown for a high-born noblewoman, even a member of the royal family, to marry a gentleman of more humble birth, this was normally a second or third marriage, after she had passed childbearing age. These ladies were usually independent and wealthy and free to please themselves, having fulfilled their family’s expectations. Anne Seymour (née Stanhope), the Dowager Duchess of Somerset, for example, married her steward after the death of her first husband, Edward Seymour; Katherine Willoughby d’Eresby, Dowager Duchess of Suffolk, married her gentleman usher after the Duke of Suffolk’s death; Lettice Knollys, after two marriages to noblemen, married her deceased husband’s servant; and Frances Grey (née Brandon), Dowager Duchess of Suffolk and the daughter of Henry VIII’s sister, Mary Tudor, took for her second husband her secretary and Master of Horses, a man also 16 years her junior. The Victorian author Lucy Aikin commented that on hearing of Frances Grey’s marriage Elizabeth reportedly remarked, ‘What, has she married her horse keeper?’ to which William Cecil replied, ‘Yes, madam, and she says your majesty would like to do so too.’
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While this makes for a good story, in fact Frances’s second marriage took place in 1554, and Robert was not made Elizabeth’s Master of Horses until 1558.

In any case, none of these precedents were queens of childbearing age – the same could not be said of Elizabeth, whose heir would have a claim to the throne.

The Venetian Ambassador reported to the Doge in May, ‘My Lord Robert Dudley is in very great favour and very intimate with her Majesty. In this subject I ought to report the opinion of many, but I doubt whether my letter may not miscarry … wherefore it is better to keep silence than to speak ill.’
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The Ambassador, realizing quite correctly that his letters might be intercepted, was unwilling to openly state what everyone in the diplomatic community was thinking: that Elizabeth and Robert were having a physical relationship. Even the vast army of servants could not watch the Queen night and day, and gossip indicated that the couple had managed to steal time together alone. Given that they were both young, healthy and attractive, speculation was rife that they were secret lovers.

It is true that Elizabeth and Robert would have had few opportunities to be alone, but how difficult must it have been? At Court, the Queen’s household had around 1,000 domestic servants working ‘below stairs’. Around 500 to 600 people had access to the upstairs public rooms, while 80 to 100 had access to the Privy Chambers. On a more intimate level, Elizabeth had 3 or 4 Ladies of the Bedchamber, up to 12 Maids of the Privy Chamber, about 6 Maids of Honour and a Mistress of Maids (Kat Ashley was given this position when Elizabeth became Queen).

From the time she rose until the time she went to sleep, Elizabeth was almost continuously in someone’s company. Her ladies-in-waiting, Councillors and guards had to be close enough to respond, should the Queen call. When dealing with business, she was attended by secretaries and clerks; when being entertained, she was surrounded by musicians, singers and dancers.

As the question of her chastity was of supreme interest to the suitors for her hand, the foreign diplomats strove to get information from her intimate circle of servants. Baron von Breuner, who was sent by Ferdinand I to negotiate a possible marriage between his son and Elizabeth, wrote on 6 August 1559: