My Enemy, the Queen (29 page)

I remembered that Mary had left Court because she could no longer bear to hear her brother abused, and Philip had come to Penshurst for the same reason. He was a special favorite of the Queen. She had made him her cupbearer. But she had willingly given him leave of absence, for she had declared that he looked so sullen every time she let it be known how enraged she was at the conduct of that uncle of his that she wanted to box his ears.

Philip was beautiful rather than handsome. The Queen liked him for his looks and his learning, for his honesty and goodness; but of course the type of men who excited her were of a different kind.

Philip was deeply concerned about the marriage, for he said it would cause disaster if it took place, and it was decided that as he had the gift of words, it might be a good idea if he wrote his objections in a letter to the Queen.

So those days at Penshurst were spent in discussion. Robert and I would walk in the park with Philip and discuss the dangers of the Queen marriage, and although I was firm in my insistence that she would never marry, they wavered in their opinions. Robert might be said to know her better than anyndeed he had been close to herut I felt I knew the woman in her.

Philip shut himself in his study and at last produced the letter which was read by us all, commented on and, as we thought, toned down. In the end it read:

How the hearts of your people will be galled, if not aliened, when they shall see you take a husband, a Frenchman and a papist, in whom the very common people know this, that he is the son of the Jezabel of our agehat his brother made oblation of his own sister marriage, the easier to make massacre of our brethren in religion… .

He was referring to Catherine deMedici, who was known throughout France as Queen Jezabel, so hated was she; and to the Massacre of the St. Bartholomew, which had taken place when Paris was full of Huguenots for the marriage of Anjou sister Marguerite to Huguenot Henri of Navarre.

As long as he is Monsieur in might, and a papist in profession, he neither can nor will greatly shield you, and if he grow to be king, his defence will be like that of Ajax shield, which rather weighed down than defended, those that bare it.

The letter was delivered and we waited at Penshurst with trepidation.

However, another incident occurred which no doubt made Philip letter less significant than it might have been.

John Stubbs flared into prominence.

Stubbs was a Puritan who had graduated from Cambridge and took an interest in literary pursuits. His hatred of Catholicism had led him into danger. He was so violently opposed to the French marriage that he published a pamphlet entitled: he Discoverie of a gaping gulf whereinto England is like to be Swallowed by another French marriage, if the Lord forbid not the Banes by letting Her Majestie see the sin and punishment thereof.

There was nothing in the pamphlet disloyal to the Queen, whose humble servant Stubbs declared himself to be, but when I saw a copy of it I knew that it would infuriate herot for its political and religious views but because John Stubbs had pointed out that the Queen age would prevent the marriage being fruitful.

So enraged was the Queens I had guessedhat she ordered the pamphlet to be suppressed and the men involvedhe writer Stubbs and the publisher and printero be tried at Westminster. The three men were sentenced to have their right hands cut off, and although the printer was later pardoned and the cruel sentences carried out on the other two, it was Stubbs who distinguished himself by speaking to the assembled crowd and telling them that the loss of his hand would in no way change his loyalty to the Queen. Then the right hands of both men were cut off by a blowrom a butcher knife with a mallettruck through the wrist. As Stubbs right hand fell off, he lifted his left and cried: od save the Queen!before he fell down in a faint.

That scene, when reported to her, must have shaken her; and, although at the time, I sometimes marveled with the rest at her seeming folly, when I look back I see the devious purpose of it.

While she dallied with Anjound she did so for a year or two he was in fact playing a game of politics with Philip of Spain, whom she greatly feared; and it was to be seen with good reason. What she wanted most was to avoid an alliance between her two enemies, and how could France ally herself with Spain when one of her sons was about to become the consort of the Queen of England.

It was clever politics and those men about her could not see it until later; but then hindsight makes so much clear.

Moreover, during that time when she dallied with her Frog Prince and earned certain unpopularity with her people, she was sowing discord between the King of France and his brother; she was planning alreadys was proved latero send the erstwhile Protestant Prince to Holland, there to fight the battle against Spain for her.

This was for later. In the meantime she flirted and coquetted with the little Prince and neither he nor her courtiers and ministers understood her motive just then.

It was a wonderful day for Robert and me when our son was born. We called him Robert and made great plans for him.

I was contented for a while just to be with him, and I was delighted when I heard that Douglass Sheffield had married Sir Edward Stafford, who was the Queen ambassador in Paris. It was Edward Stafford who had carried out the negotiations for the proposed marriage between Elizabeth and Anjou and his handling of these matters had won the Queen approval.

He had for some time been in love with Douglass, but her insistence that a marriage had taken place between her and Leicester had made it impossible for them to marry. Now that my marriage with Robert was common knowledge, Douglasscting in a manner which was typical of herarried Edward Stafford, thereby tacitly admitting that there could never have been a binding marriage between herself and Robert.

This was deeply gratifying, and as I sat with my baby in my lap I promised myself that all would be well and in due course I should even regain the Queen favor.

. I wondered what Elizabeth would feel when she knew that Robert and I had a son, for I was sure that she longed for a son even more than she did for a husband.

I heard from friends at Court that she had received the news in silence, which had been followed by a bout of ill temper, so I guessed the effect it had had on her; but it was a shock to learn of what action she intended to take.

It was Sussex againhat harbinger of ill tidingsho brought the news to us.

fear there is trouble ahead,he told Robert, not without some satisfaction. he Queen is asking questions about Douglass Sheffield. It has come to her ears that she has a son named Robert Dudley and that she declared he was the legitimate son of the Earl of Leicester.

f that were so,I demanded, ow can she call herself the wife of Sir Edward Stafford?

he Queen declares it is a mystery which she is now determined to clear up. She says that Douglass is the daughter of a great house and she cannot allow it to be said that she has committed bigamy in her marriage with her ambassador.

Robert said firmly: here was on my part no marriage with Douglass Sheffield.

he Queen thinks it maybe otherwise and she is determined to have the matter sifted for the truth.

he may sift but she will find nothing.

Was he braving it out? I was not sure. He certainly seemed shaken.

er Majesty says that she is of the mind that there was such a marriage, in which case your present marriage is none at all. She says that if indeed you married Douglass Sheffield, you will live with her as your wife or rot in the Tower.

I knew what this meant. If it were possible she was going to wrest my triumph from me. She wanted to prove that my marriage was no marriage and my son a bastard.

Oh, those were anxious days for me. Even now I tremble with rage when I recall them. Robert assured me that she could not prove that a marriage had taken place, for it had not, but I could not entirely believe him. I knew him well and that the overweening emotion of his life was ambition; but he was more virile than most men and when he desired a woman that desire could, temporarily, override ambition. Douglass was the sort of woman who would cling to her virtuelthough she had become his mistress nd it may have been because of the child she was to have that she had successfully pleaded with him to marry her.

But now we had a sonur own young Robertnd I told myself that his father, who was adept at removing obstacles from his path, would surely be able to eliminate evidence of a marriage, if such there had been. No son of mine should be branded a bastard. I would not stand aside and allow the Queen that satisfaction. I was going to confound her malice, prove her wrong and let this be another victory for her She-Wolf.

Sussex informed us that the Queen had commissioned him to get to the truth of the matter. She was determined to know whether, in fact, a marriage had taken place. We had a good ally in Sir Edward Stafford, who was deeply enamored of Douglass and was as earnestly concerned in proving there had been no marriage between Douglass and Robert as we were.

Douglass, it seemed, wanted to defend what she called er honor and of course she was fighting for her son. That was a point in our favor. Leicester, as a family man wanting legitimate sons, was, it was said, hardly likely to disclaim one as bright and intelligent as Douglass Robert.

We waited in trepidation for the result of the inquiry. Douglass was questioned by Sussex, and it was disconcerting to remember how much Sussex disliked Robert, for we were sure that he would be delighted if he could bring a case against us.

Douglass insisted, under cross-examination, that there had been a ceremony when she and Leicester had plighted their troth in a manner which she considered binding. Then, it was said, she must have some document; there must have been some settlement. No, said silly little Douglass, there was nothing. She had relied on the Earl of Leicester and had trusted him completely. She wept hysterically and begged to be left alone. She was now happily married to Sir Edward Stafford, and the Earl of Leicester and Lady Essex had a fine boy.

Then, it would seem, Sussex was forced to declare that what had taken place between Lady Sheffield and the Earl of Leicester was no true marriage and in that case Leicester had been free to marry Lady Essex when he did.

When the news was brought to me I was overcome with joy. I had been terrified on account of my son. Now there was no doubt that the little boy in the cradle was the Earl of Leicester legitimate son and heir.

While I was rejoicing in my good fortune I could also enjoy the Queen discomfiture. It was reported to me that when she heard the news she stormed and raged, called Douglass a fool, Leicester a rogue, and me a ravening she-wolf who roamed the world seeking for men whom it could destroy.

y Lord Leicester will rue the day he ever took up with Lettice Knollys,she declared. his is not an end of that affair. In time he will have recovered from his besotted folly and feel the She-Wolf poisonous fangs.

I might have trembled to realize the hatred I had aroused in our all-powerful lady, but somehow I found it stimulating, especially now that I knew I had got the better of her again. I could picture her fury, and that it was mainly directed against me exhilarated me. My marriage was secure. My son future was protected. And the mighty Queen of Englandlthough she had exerted all her power to do soould not take that from me. Once again I was the victor.

I could come out into the open now that there was no need to skulk behind secrecy, and I turned my attention to my husband magnificent residences and determined to make them even more grand. They should all exceed the splendor of the Queen places and castles.

I refurbished my bedchamber in Leicester House, installing a walnut bed, the hangings of which were of such grandeur that no one could look at them without gasping. I was determined that my bedchamber must be more splendid than that set aside for the Queen when she came visiting the house. I remembered that when she came I should have to disappearither that or she would refuse to come at all. And if she came I knew her curiosity would impel her to see my bedchamber, so I spared nothing in making it beautiful. The hangings were of red velvet, decorated with gold and silver thread and lace; everything in the room was covered in velvet, silver and gold cloth; my night stool was like a throne. I knew she would be furious if she saw it all. And she would certainly hear about it. There would be plenty of malicious hands ready to stoke up the fires of her hatred against me. All the bed linen was decorated with Leicester crest, and very fine it was; we had rich carpets on the floors and walls, and what a joy it was to dispense with the rushes which in a short time became ill-smelling and full of lice.

Robert and I were happy. We could laugh together behind the elaborate curtains of our bed at the clever way in which he had married me in spite of all the obstacles against us. I referred to the Queen when we were alone together as That Vixen. After all she was as cunning as a fox; and the female of the species was more wily than the male. As she called me the She-Wolf I called Robert My Wolf, and he retaliated by naming me his Lamb, for he said that if the lion could lie down with that sweet creature so could the wolf. There was little that was lamblike about me, I reminded him, and he said that was true as far as the rest of the world was concerned. The joke persisted, and whenever we used these nicknames the Queen was never far from our thoughts.

Our little son was a joy to us both and I began to revel in my family, not only because I was devoted to them but because the Queen, for all her splendor, must feel the lack of sons and daughters.

There was, however, a certain sadness in the house which was brought about by Penelope. She had stormed and raged for a time, declaring her opposition to the marriage with Lord Rich. Lord Huntington would have had her beaten into submission, but I would not allow this. Penelope was very like myselfeautiful and high-spirited; in any case to have beaten her would have strengthened her resistance.

I reasoned with her. I pointed out that this marriage with Lord Rich was the best thing that could happen to her at this time. The family was in disgracearticularly myselfnd my daughter would never be received at Court, but if she became Lady Rich and the wife of such a man, that would be a different matter. She might feel that she would prefer a life in the country to marriage with a man she did not love, but she would change her mind when the boredom set in.