Cate Blanchett and Joseph Fiennes as Elizabeth Tudor and Robert Dudley in Shekar Kapur’s Elizabeth (1998). © Universal Pictures
The strikes of curiosity often come into play whenever the questions of “Will they, or won’t they? Did they, or didn’t they?” are brought up, most especially when one thinks of the scenario if two people will ever get together–or stay together. These sorts of questions and circumstances are themes often found in the media, be it works of fictional literature, or in film and television. Stories depicting romantic tragedy have also been an endless interest in people’s minds, we can consider the likes of Romeo & Juliet or Wuthering Heights as examples. Nevertheless, it is quite fascinating how this too, for the lack of better word accounts in relation to one of the most famous queens in history and her childhood friend turned favourite courtier.
Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley’s relationship we can say is ‘one for the books', literally and figuratively, as it spanned decades, filled with longing, passion, and scandal. Aspects of their relationship have been explored and adapted on the silver screen, most famously having been portrayed by Cate Blanchett and Joseph Fiennes in the Academy Award nominated Elizabeth (1998), and Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons in the Emmy winning Elizabeth I (2005). Their names are even mentioned in T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Wasteland.” And yet with the amount of times Elizabeth and Robert have gone by with depictions in popular culture, what is it about their relationship that captures the attention of many for the past four hundred or so years?
We would eventually have to backtrack to the beginning. Elizabeth and Robert had known each other since they were children, Robert himself having once told the French Ambassador in 1566 that he and Elizabeth had “become friends before she was eight years old”, and that he had “known her ‘better than any man on earth’. They were roughly the same age, and had particular things in common, like riding and hunting, alongside having shared the same tutor, Roger Ascham. Robert’s mother, Jane Dudley was once a lady in waiting for Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn, and they were acquainted at most during that time period. Elizabeth’s brother, then King Edward VI had Robert as one of his companions at court, and eventually was made a part of his privy chamber. Nothing much in particular in terms of their interactions during Edward’s reign have been recorded, or are vastly known, though needless to say they both were in each other’s circles from time to time. However, it was during Mary I’s reign (1553-1558) that brought Elizabeth and Dudley closer together.
In 1553, Edward VI died of an illness and his death had John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland acting quickly to send his men to seize Mary and at the same time, placing Lady Jane Grey on the throne. In a very unfortunate manner for John, this scheme did not succeed, and Mary I, had become the new ruler of England. He was then tried for treason, and was eventually executed. Five of John’s sons, Robert included, were imprisoned, and whilst Robert and his brother Ambrose were pardoned very later on, his younger sibling Guildford and Lady Jane Grey, who was his wife were also executed months after Northumberland’s death took place. Robert’s stay at the Tower coincided with Elizabeth’s arrest there on March 18 1554 as she was sent on the suspicion of being involved in Wyatt’s rebellion. This is where speculation and myths about their paths crossing during this heavy-handed time of their lives stems from, with stories implying that this was the “beginning” of their love story, and other talk about them meeting in secret in what we can say is exaggerated in an overtly romanticised manner, the Tower was definitely not a place of vacation and wander where they could freely frolic around (However, Elizabeth was able to walk through the gardens when she’d like to under the guidance of her Ladies and the Tower’s Lieutenant) but nevertheless, despite the fact that a picturesque scenario of Elizabeth and Robert having moments of sneaking out, meeting on borrowed time at that certain place would be deemed impossible, it was one of the core happenings that would eventually shape the bond these two had for the rest of their lives.
On November 17 1558, Mary I died which led to Elizabeth’s ascension to the throne. When Elizabeth became queen, she immediately appointed Dudley as her Master Of The Horse, which was a position of being in close contact with the queen and meant that he was responsible for court travels and rounds of entertainment, it was also during the first few months of Elizabeth’s reign when rumours and gossip started swirling around about Elizabeth and Robert. In a report from Count De Feria to Philip II, he claimed that ‘During the last few days Lord Robert has come so much into favour that he does whatever he likes with affairs, and it is even said that her Majesty visits him in his chamber day and night. People talk of this so freely that they go so far as to say that his wife has a malady in one of her breasts, and the Queen is only waiting for her to die to marry Lord Robert’.
And this alone, was already deemed scandalous, as Robert had still been married to Amy Robsart, who was the daughter of a Norfolk squire. Amy had never appeared at court, though Robert had visited her at Throcking during Easter whilst Amy went to London in May 1559 and stayed there for about a month. This definitely did not stop observations at court in regards to Elizabeth never letting Robert leave her side. Not too long after her accession, she had Robert’s bedchamber moved next to her private rooms which had tongues wagging and gossip sparking up even more.
It had only been a matter of time before their relationship was not only being scandalous in England, but all over Europe as well. Things took even more of a turn when Amy Robsart was found dead by the foot of the stairs at Cumnor Place in Oxfordshire on September 8 1560. Robert had been with the Queen at Windsor Castle then, and was told of her death by a messenger the following day and had written to his steward Thomas Blount right away as he had been desperately trying to find out what occurred and to call for an inquest. The death of Amy was a controversial happening amid continuous rumours about the Queen and Robert, having caused ‘grievous and dangerous suspicion, and muttering’ in the country. Robert himself was shocked, and dreaded ‘The malicious talk that I know the wicked world will use’.
William Cecil, who was Elizabeth’s chief adviser, was threatened over the prospects of Robert becoming king consort. Threatened by the prospect of it, he had spread rumours against the eventuality and having been aware of her death before it was officially out in the public eye,he told the Spanish ambassador that Lord Robert and the Queen wished to marry and were about to do away with Amy Dudley by poison, ‘Giving out that she was ill but she was not ill at all.’
Nicholas Throckmorton, the English ambassador in France who was also opposed to a marriage between Elizabeth and Robert had gone out of his way to draw numerous attention to the gossip being spread at the French court. And while Cecil and Throckmorton made use of the issue for political and personal aims, they themselves didn’t believe that Robert had orchestrated his wife’s death. While there has never been an actual conclusion as to what Amy’s real cause of death is, most historians have considered murder to be unlikely. It was suggested in 1956 by Ian Aird, a professor of medicine that she may have suffered from breast cancer which side effects have led to the fall down the stairs, this explanation has been widely accepted, with suicide being another possible option, as it was a motive of Amy’s depression or illness. However, this meant that Robert was now technically free to marry Elizabeth, even if it meant coming with the suspicion would make her not accept him, as doing it may have cost her the throne.
Cate Blanchett and Joseph Fiennes as Elizabeth Tudor and Robert Dudley in Shekar Kapur’s Elizabeth (1998). © Universal Pictures
But yet, they would not let go of each other. Elizabeth and Robert both had a fondness for doing many things together, like riding, hunting, and most especially dancing. They would try to go and spend as much time with one another, like a report coming from Ambassador De Quadra to the Bishop of Arras in which he says: ‘The Queen failed to attend an important meeting on April 8 on the grounds that she was indisposed, but had gone to watch Lord Robert Dudley playing tennis.’
The ever growing closeness and intimacy they shared still led to court gossip and slanders aimed toward the both of them that were constantly swaying back and forth, Elizabeth herself even told the French ambassador: ‘I cannot do without my Lord Robert, for he is like my little dog’. And to ambassador Zwetkovich to the Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian: ‘I love him and will love and regard him all my life long; for he deserves it.’
Talk of their relationship kept provoking endless speculation and stories that may have seemed way too good to be true, and amongst such speculations were the wonders of a marriage pursuit. Elizabeth and Robert loved toying with people on the subject of marriage, and if Elizabeth would ever accept his hand. On June 30 1561, De Quadra wrote to Philip II about a happening during a feast that was given by Robert:
‘On the day of St John the Queen ordered me to be invited to a feast given by Lord Robert...In the afternoon we went on board a vessel from which we were to see the rejoicings, and she, Robert and I being alone...they began joking, which she likes to do much better than talking about business. They went so far with their jokes that Lord Robert told her that if she liked I could be the minister to perform the act of marriage, and she, nothing loth to hear it, said she was not sure whether I knew enough English’.
Towards the beginning of summer in 1562 and a little prior to that, it seemed as if speculations of a marriage may turn into fact. Rumours were spread like wildfire that Elizabeth had actually married Robert in secret, in which by June came quickly into notice by the Queen herself and her council. With De Quadra having said numerous times to The Spanish Ambassador’s secretary, Borghese Venturini that he knew ‘The Queen was secretly married to Lord Robert Dudley’.
He had also sent a note to Philip II in regards to his conversation with Lord Chamberlain Howard and Dr Nicholas Wotton in answer to various charges, including (as stated by his servant, April 28) that he had written to the King that the Queen indeed had been secretly married to Lord Robert Dudley at the Earl of Pembroke’s house in Baynard’s Castle, London.
De Quadra’s response was:
‘What I wrote to his Majesty about this was the same as I said to the Queen, which was that people were saying all over the town that the wedding had taken place, which at the time neither surprised nor annoyed her, and she said it was not only people outside of the palace who had thought such a thing, as on her return that afternoon from the Earl’s house her own ladies in waiting when she entered her chamber with Lord Robert asked whether they were to kiss his hand as well as hers, to which she had told them no, and that they were not to believe what people said’.‘In addition to this he told me two or three days after that the Queen had promised to marry him but not this year. She had told me also with an oath that if she had to marry an Englishman it should only be Robert’.
It was also just a few months earlier that Elizabeth had expressed to the Duke of Saxony on the subject of her and Robert’s relationship, and having been said that ‘She was more attached to him than any of the others because when she was deserted by everybody in the reign of her sister not only did he never lessen in any degree his kindness and humble attention to her, but he even sold his possessions that he might assist her with money, and therefore she thought it just that she should make some return for his good faith and constancy.’
The unexpected suddenly happened in the autumn of 1562, Elizabeth had fallen ill and caught smallpox, she was placed into a semi-conscious state within a week of her sickness, and later on said it herself that ‘Death possessed every joint of me’.
As her council gathered around her bed, the Queen demanded that if she would succumb to the disease, she’d have Robert be appointed as Lord Protector of The Realm, De Quadra writes:
‘The most moderate and sensible tried to dissuade the others from being in such a furious hurry, and said they would divide and ruin the country unless they summoned jurists of the greatest standing in the country to examine the rights of the claimants...During this discussion the Queen improved, and on recovering from the crisis which had kept her unconscious and speechless for two hours the first thing she said was to beg her Council to make Lord Robert Protector of the Kingdom, with a title and an income of £20,000’.
Elizabeth had also protested that although she loved and will always love Robert dearly, it was noted that nothing improper had ever passed between them, and she had ordered a Groom of The Chamber named John Tamworth, who stays in Robert’s room to be granted an income of £500 a year.
The Queen was able to recover afterwards, which was a huge sigh in relief. Robert was then made a privy councilor, having already been involved in foreign politics, with Scotland being included.
In 1563, Elizabeth had suggested that Robert would be consort to her cousin, the then widowed Mary, Queen of Scots. This was ideal, as it would supposedly achieve amity between England and Scotland to diminish influence of foreign powers. Though Elizabeth’s preferred solution was that they would all live together at the English court, so she would not lose sight of her dear Robert. Queen Mary had thoughts if Elizabeth was serious about this, wanting above all to know her chances of sitting on the English throne.
Elizabeth had previously declared that she would only acknowledge Mary as heir on her condition that she would agree to marry Robert. However, Mary had also been a part of those endlessly speculating about Elizabeth and Robert’s relationship, later on even telling Bess of Hardwick that Robert had visited the Queen’s bed numerous times. Mary’s Protestant advisors were warmed to the possibility of having Robert as their Prince, and by September 1564 he was created Earl of Leicester.
In January 1565 Thomas Randolph, the English ambassador to Scotland, was told by Mary that she would indeed accept the proposal. However, Robert was not to be moved to comply, making it clear from the start that he was not a candidate for Mary’s hand, he was also working in the interest of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley who was Mary’s utmost choice for a husband. Elizabeth then wavered as to declaring Mary as her heir, until March 1565 when she decided she would not push through with it. Nevertheless, she had finally told the Spanish ambassador that the proposal failed to occur because Robert had refused to cooperate.
As Elizabeth’s reign was progressing over the years, the pressure for her to marry grew ever more intense, and she would pretend to consider numerous potential suitors. Still, Robert had not given up yet on his hope that Elizabeth would take his hand in marriage.
They continued on with their musings and bickerings, in their letters written to each other, Elizabeth and Robert used the symbol ‘ôô’ as a code for ‘Eyes’ a nickname she had given him.
Not long before he was granted the title of the Earl of Liecester, Elizabeth had gifted him Kenilworth Castle. Kenilworth became the centre of Robert’s own ambitions to establish himself in the region, and he also had the site’s appearance go through several transformations like adding a 15th century style gatehouse to the castle’s medieval structures, and a formal garden and residential wing which became a hallmark of Elizabethan architecture in the latter part of the century.
Elizabeth is known to have visited Robert at Kenilworth for at least approximately four times: in 1566 between August 19 and 22, in 1568 which was sometime between August 22 and 27, in 1572 again on an August 15 to 16 and another one on August 18 to 23 and during the famous nineteen-day visit of 1575 which happened from July 9 to 27. The nineteen day stay of Elizabeth at the castle with the festivities being held was his last attempt for the Queen to accept his proposal, and was also as much of a request to eventually go on and marry another, as the chances of Elizabeth wanting to partake in marriage were decreasing at most.
Robert then started to court Lettice Knollys, who was the daughter of Catherine Carey, daughter to Mary Boleyn who was Anne Boleyn’s sister. Elizabeth had not been aware of Robert and Lettice’s affair for a period of time, with the pair marrying in secret on September 21 1578. Once Elizabeth found out that her own cousin had taken away the only man she truly loved, she became so enraged that she banished Lettice from ever stepping foot in court, she had immense anger for Robert too, and even though she would eventually forgive him later on, there was still so much to unpack with what was done.
Elizabeth and Leicester miniatures by Nicholas Hilliard. circa 1575
Nonetheless, Elizabeth and Robert were able to rekindle their relationship and remained very close, in 1585 when Robert decided to partake in commanding her forces in the Netherlands, she did not want him to leave her so terribly that before his trip, he found her ‘on the verge of nervous collapse.’ And stayed with her through sleepless nights whilst complaining about how she did not want him to leave.
He then wrote to Walsingham:
‘I find her Majesty very desirous to stay with me. She makes the cause only the doubtfulness of her own self, by reason of her oft disease taking her of late and this last night worst of all. She used very pitiful words to me for fear that she shall not live and would not have me from her. You can consider what manner of persuasion this must be to me from her … I would not say much for any matter but did comfort her as well as I could, only I did let her know how far I had gone in preparation. I do think for all this that if she be well tonight, she will let me go, for she would not have me speak of it to the contrary to anybody … pray you send my wife word in the morning that I cannot come before Thursday to London.’
And this was also not the dead end of non-stop rumours about the intimacy they had shared. During the summer of 1587, a Spanish ship interrupted a boat that was on its way to France, one of the passengers aboard the boat was a man in his 20’s that claimed to be a Catholic undertaking a pilgrimage to a shrine in Montserrat. The man was arrested by the Spanish officials, and was asked for his identity. He claimed to be Arthur Dudley, and told about how he was raised by Robert Southern who was once a servant of Kat Ashley, Elizabeth’s closest friend and governess. On Southern’s deathbed he told Arthur that he was not his real father and refused to say anything else. Arthur then took off but a schoolmaster named Smyth, was sent after Arthur by Southern and told him that he was the son of Elizabeth and Robert. He was examined by Francis Englefield, who was a Catholic aristocrat exiled to Spain and secretary to King Philip II. However, this story failed to convince Englefield, thus claiming to the King that his ‘claim at present amounts to nothing.’
Arthur was never heard of again afterwards.
Robert was by the Queen’s side as she delivered her famous speech at TIlbury on August 8 1588, right in the immediate aftermath of the Armada, hoping that any form of danger had gone and passed. Though this month unknowingly would turn out to be the remaining one left for Robert in spending his time with Elizabeth. He then took leave to be on the lookout for his well being, and on August 29 1588, at Rycote on his way to Buxton, he had penned what became the last ever piece of his writing that the Queen would be receiving from him. Robert was now very ill, but still managed to travel on with an overnight stop at Oxford, to reach his lodge at Cornbury. Sadly, he took his last breath and passed away five days later, on September 4. Elizabeth was utterly devastated upon hearing the news of his death, locking herself in her chambers for a few days until the doors were broken down by the orders of William Cecil. The queen had kept that note until the end of her life, when she passed at Richmond Palace on March 24 1603, Robert’s letter was found by her bedside on a keepsake box, with Elizabeth having it marked as ‘His Last Letter.'
The relationship between Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley was nothing of a perfect fairytale relationship as some may want to believe or a full on scheme of seeking power. Just like any kind of relationship, it was one that had its ups and downs, its own heartbreaks, because while they did break their own hearts, they also broke some of those whom they were surrounded by. Theirs was a union that outlasted and broke through many trials and obstacles. They were best friends, lovers, each other’s working partners and yes, there was a little unhealthy obsession and codependency of one another. But in the end, they loved each other and that was the most important thing.
I genuinely believe that what they had goes beyond the utmost speculations of whether or not they actually consummated their relationship. It’s very clear through their known interactions and letters that he was the love of her life, and she being his, they definitely never got over each other, though they had never married, their souls were very much bound together. And I think that contributes to the fascination behind their story, all the madness, passion, and chaos that went on between the both is what makes a great story, one that feels ever encompassing and brutal —yet timeless and worthwhile.
References:
Adams, Simon (2008): “Dudley, Robert, earl of Leicester (1532/3–1588)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online edn. May 2008 (subscription required) Retrieved 2024-02-06
Fraser, A., & And, F. (1969). Mary, Queen of Scots. Delacorte Press.
Gristwood, S. (2007). Elizabeth and Leicester. Penguin.
Lupold von Wedel. (1928). Queen Elizabeth and Some Foreigners. London : John Lane.
Paul, J. (2023). The House of Dudley. Simon and Schuster.
Somerset, A. (2003). Elizabeth I. Anchor Books.
Stedall, R. (2020). Elizabeth I’s Secret Lover. Casemate Publishers.
Wilson , D. (1981). Sweet Robin: A Biography of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester 1533-1588 [Review of Sweet Robin: A Biography of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester 1533-1588].
(n.d.). Elizabethan Court Day by Day 1559
(n.d.). Elizabethan Court Day by Day 1560
(n.d.). Elizabethan Court Day by Day 1561
(n.d.). Elizabethan Court Day by Day 1562
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