Elizabeth (42 page)

In my opinion, the easiest to justify are the candidates for a child born in 1548 to Elizabeth and Thomas Seymour. The Bisham baby (or babies) died in infancy, while Hester Harington and Hugh Bethell lived and died away from the glaring public eye of the Court. If one of them really was Elizabeth’s child, then they went to the grave with that secret.

The more usually touted candidates for a secret child, fathered by Robert Dudley, are far less ‘secret’. These individuals lived more in the limelight: Francis Bacon and Robert Devereux were major figures in Elizabethan politics, and very much part of the comings and goings of the Court. Arthur Dudley was placed humbly, but was later brought to Court and then ‘told’ of his origins, which in itself is difficult to believe. Of all the four men discussed in the last section of this book, John Harington is the most likely to be the son of Robert and Elizabeth, raised, as he was, far from Court until his own ebullient charm and talent pushed him onto the royal stage.

But if there was an illegitimate child, would it be possible to recognize him or her from his or her resemblance to Elizabeth or the presumed father? Finding definite proof of a family resemblance in a portrait is extremely difficult. It is often impossible to determine how true a portrait may be to the person it represents. However, one portrait of Sir John Harington languished for some time mistitled as ‘Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester’. If only the lost portrait of Hester Harington could be found, perhaps it could be determined if they look like brother and sister, or even if their resemblance was based on Tudor or Harington blood.

From my research, my conclusion is that if Elizabeth did become pregnant and have a child, the period with the most
conducive set of circumstances for this to have occurred was in 1548 when she was relatively unimportant, living in a private house surrounded by people devoted to her, and either passionately in love for the first time or the victim of Thomas Seymour’s unwanted attentions. A second, but slightly less likely period occurs around 1560, when Elizabeth had become Queen.

If a child had been born in either circumstance, the crucial issue would have been to place it surreptitiously so that no shred of scandal could ever be traced back to the Queen. Elizabeth and her inner circle knew that any proof of a bastard could potentially cost her the throne and perhaps her life.

In these circumstances, would she really have been foolish enough to place her son with such high officials as Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, or Sir Nicholas Bacon, just to fulfil a deep maternal need to keep her child close? And how likely was it that either Francis Bacon or Devereux was her son? The Queen certainly did not show much maternal affection to Francis Bacon during his life and even seemed to dislike him. She was much fonder of Devereux, but if she was his mother, it certainly did not stop her from signing his death warrant.

More importantly, if there was an heir, albeit an illegitimate one, why would Elizabeth have not put him forward as a candidate for the succession? By the 1570s, some elements of the English Court would have rejoiced if the Queen had admitted that she had borne an illegitimate child. It would not have been an unprecedented occurrence, and adroit political manoeuvring could have made it legally possible for the child to succeed to the throne.

In my mind this makes it even more unlikely that the child was Francis Bacon, who was a self-proclaimed genius and certainly one of the finest minds of the day. Similarly, it takes Devereux out of the running: despite his braggadocio, he was a charismatic young
man, a fine soldier and had the makings of a potentially competent leader. Even Arthur Dudley was a shrewd, quick-witted, handsome young man, who was good at languages, and was imaginative and resourceful. These candidates – a notable academic, a fine soldier or a resourceful spy – might have been welcomed by courtiers such as William Cecil and Francis Walsingham as a possible future King. Certainly, the people of England could have been persuaded to accept as King the illegitimate offspring of the Virgin Queen, since he carried the bloodlines not just of his popular mother, but of Henry VIII as well.

There is one candidate, however, who might not have been quite so welcomed as the future King of England. No one can deny the intellectual capacity of Sir John Harington; his serious works are on a par with much of the outstanding literature produced in the 16th and 17th centuries. However, his reputation at Court was that of a fool, a man who wrote ribald and nonsensical verses and irritated the Queen with his behaviour. John was also often in debt and never gained a position of real power. Of all the candidates likely to be Elizabeth’s child, it is John Harington who would have had the most trouble gaining credibility and support as King of England. Thus, this man, impossible for the Queen to acknowledge for the aforementioned reasons, is, for me, the most likely candidate to be the son of Elizabeth I and Sir Robert Dudley, a couple, who, in the end, were an impossible match.

Introduction

1
. ‘Queen Elizabeth – Volume 13: August 1560’,
Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Edward, Mary and Elizabeth, 1547–80
(1856), pp. 157–158. No.21.

2
. ‘Queen Elizabeth – Volume 148: March 1581’,
Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Elizabeth, 1581–90 (
1865), pp. 9–13. No.34.

Chapter One

1
.  ‘Henry VIII: July 1527, 1–10’,
Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 4: 1524–1530
(1875), pp. 1465–77. No.3218. Vatican Love Letters IV.

2
. ‘Henry VIII: September 1532, 16–30’,
Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 5: 1531–1532
(1880), pp. 571–89. No. 1370, 1–3.

3
.  ‘Henry VIII: September 1533, 1–10’,
Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6: 1533
(1882), pp. 449–66. No.1112.

4
.  ‘Spain: December 1533, 16–25’,
Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 4 Part 2: 1531–1533
(1882), pp. 880–95. No.1164.

5
.  
The Young Elizabeth
, Alison Plowden, Sutton Publishing, 1999, p.45.

6
.  ‘Henry VIII: January 1536, 26–31’,
Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 10: January–June 1536 (1887)
, pp. 64–81. No.199.

7
.  Ibid., pp. 349–71. No.876.7.

8
.  ‘Spain: July 1536, 6–15’,
Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 5 Part 2: 1536–1538 (1888)
, pp. 187–205. No.71.

9
.  ‘Spain: August 1536, 1–15’,
Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 5 Part 2: 1536–8 (1888)
, pp. 218–31. No.85.

10
.  ‘Henry VIII: October 1536, 21–25’,
Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 11: July–December 1536 (1888)
, pp. 315–49. No.860.

11
.  ‘Henry VIII: July 1536, 21–25’, op. cit
.,
pp. 54–73. No.132.

12
.  ‘Henry VIII: August 1536, 1–5’, op. cit., pp. 90–103. No.203.

13
.  ‘Henry VIII: August 1536, 16–20’, op. cit., pp. 130–38. No.312.

14
.  ‘Spain: January 1536, 21–31’,
Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 5 Part 2: 1536–1538 (1888)
, pp. 11–29. No.9.

15
.  ‘Elizabeth: September 1559, 1–5’,
Calendar of State Papers Foreign, Elizabeth, Volume 1: 1558–1559 (1863)
, pp. 524–42. No.1303, 16–17.

16
.  
Elizabeth the Great
, Elizabeth Jenkins, The Companion Book Club, London, 1958, p.10.

17
.  Book of Broadsides, The Society of Antiquaries; ‘Henry VIII: January 1541, 1–10’,
Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 16: 1540–1541 (1898)
, pp. 211–19. No.423.4.

18
.  ‘Spain: Appendix’,
Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 5 Part 2: 1536–1538 (1888)
, pp. 497–566. No.214.

19
.  ‘Letters and Papers: December 1539, 16–20’,
Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 14 Part 2: August–December 1539 (1895)
, pp. 255–62. No.697.

20
.  ‘Henry VIII: December 1540, 1–10’,
Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 16: 1540–1541 (1898)
, pp. 145–51. No.314.

21
.  Public Record Office, 31/3/26, fo.134.

22
.  
Chronicle of King Henry VIII of England: Being a Contemporary Record of Some of the Principal Events of the Reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI. Written in Spanish by an Unknown Hand
. Martin Andrew Sharp Hume & George Bell (Eds). BiblioLife Reproduction Series.

23
.  Preface’ to the
Gospel of St John, partially translated by Princess Mary, The First Tome or Volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus upon the New Testament
, Nicholas Udall, 1548.

24
.  ‘Henry VIII: July 1544, 26–31’,
Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 19 Part 1: January–July 1544 (1903)
, pp. 596–651. No.1020.

25
.  ‘Henry VIII: October 1545, 21–25’,
Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 20 Part 2: August–December 1545 (1907)
, pp. 286–300. No.639.3.

26
.  British Library, MS Royal, 7.D.X, sigs. 2r–5r.

27
.  ‘Henry VIII: December 1546, 1–5’,
Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 21 Part 2: September 1546–January 1547 (1910)
, pp. 249–59. No.502.

28
.  
England Under the Reigns of Edward VI and Mary
, Patrick Fraser Tytler, 1839, p.17.
The Life and Reign of Edward VI
, Sir John Hayward, published posthumously 1630.

Chapter 2

1
.  
Lives of the Queens of England from the Norman Conquest
, Agnes Strickland, 1864, Volume II, pp.445–6.

2
.  
The Chronicle of King Edward VI
, British Museum, Cotton MSS, Nero C, x.

3
.  ‘Cecil Papers: 1549’,
Calendar of the Cecil Papers in Hatfield House, Volume 1: 1306–1571 (1883)
, pp. 58–80. No.304.

4
.  Ibid.

5
.  Ibid.

6
.  Ibid. No no.

7
.  Ibid. No no.

8
.  Ibid. No no.

9
.  Ibid. No no.

10
.  
The Young Elizabeth
, op. cit., p.91.

11
.  ‘Cecil Papers: 1549’,
Calendar of the Cecil Papers in Hatfield House, Volume 1: 1306–1571 (1883)
, pp. 58–80. No.306.

12
.  Ibid.

13
.  ‘Edward VI – Volume 2: December 1547’,
Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Edward, Mary and Elizabeth, 1547–80 (1856)
, pp.5. No.25.

14
.  
MS Rulers of England, Box III (Elizabeth I)
, art.6, The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York

15
.  British Library, MS Cotton Otho. C.X., fol.236v.

16
.  
Collection of State Papers, relating to affairs in the reigns of King Henry VIII, King Edward VI, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, transcribed from original letters and other authentick memorials, left by William Cecill Lord Burghley, Vol. 1
, Samuel Haynes, London, 1740.

17
.  Ibid.

18
.  Ibid.

19
.  ‘Edward VI – Volume 6: February 1549’,
Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Edward, Mary and Elizabeth, 1547–80 (1856)
, pp. 13–14.

20
.  ‘Edward VI – Volume 5: September 1548’, op. cit., pp. 10–11. No.4.

21
.  Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, MS Smith 19, art.1, fol.1.

22
.  ‘Edward VI – Volume 6: February 1549’, op.cit., pp. 13–14.

23
.  ‘Cecil Papers: 1549’,
Calendar of the Cecil Papers in Hatfield House, Volume 1: 1306–1571 (1883)
, pp. 58–80. No.287.

24
.  
England Under the Reigns of Edward VI and Mary
, Patrick Fraser Tytler, op.cit.

25
.  Ibid.

26
.  Ibid.

27
.  Ibid.

28
.  Ibid.

29
.  
Collection of State Papers, relating to affairs in the reigns of King Henry VIII, King Edward VI, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth,
op.cit.

30
.  Ibid.

31
.  Ibid.

32
.  ‘Edward VI – Volume 6: February 1549’,
Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Edward, Mary and Elizabeth, 1547–80 (1856)
, pp. 13–14. Nos.19–22.

33
.  Ibid.

34
.  
Collection of State Papers, relating to affairs in the reigns of King Henry VIII, King Edward VI, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth
, op. cit.

35
.  Ibid.

36
.  Spain: January 1549’,
Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 9: 1547–1549 (1912)
, pp. 327–35, No.17. Also, including the quotation:
Collection of State Papers, relating to affairs in the reigns of King Henry VIII, King Edward VI, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth,
op. cit., p.61–153.