{"id":10682,"date":"2022-02-09T07:11:59","date_gmt":"2022-02-09T06:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=55277"},"modified":"2022-02-09T11:15:09","modified_gmt":"2022-02-09T10:15:09","slug":"a-tudor-love-triangle-elizabeth-i-lettice-knollys-and-robert-dudley","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/a-tudor-love-triangle-elizabeth-i-lettice-knollys-and-robert-dudley\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tudor love triangle: Elizabeth I, Lettice Knollys and Robert Dudley"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By HistoryExtraAdmin\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 09 February 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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The atmosphere within the queen\u2019s apartments at the Palace of Whitehall was icily cold when, in late 1579, Lettice Knollys stood before Elizabeth I<\/a>. The queen raged at the woman in front of her in no uncertain terms. \u201cAs but one sun lightened the Earth, she would have but one queen in England,\u201d Elizabeth seethed, before reputedly boxing Lettice\u2019s ears and banishing her from court.<\/p>\n

What could Lettice have possibly done to provoke such a volcanic reaction? She had entered into a secret marriage without the queen\u2019s consent \u2013 reason enough to provoke royal outrage. But what really fanned the flames of Elizabeth\u2019s fury was the identity of the groom: Lettice\u2019s husband was none other than the queen\u2019s favourite and one time suitor, Robert Dudley<\/a>. It was a betrayal that Elizabeth would never forgive.<\/p>\n

Scandalous gossip<\/h3>\n
\u201cThey say she is in love with Lord Robert and never lets him leave her.\u201d So wrote the Spanish ambassador, the Count de Feria, two decades earlier in 1559, of the blossoming relationship between Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley. Nor was de Feria alone in his belief that matters were far from platonic between the queen and Dudley, and scandalous gossip about the pair began to circulate soon after Elizabeth\u2019s accession the previous year.<\/p>\n
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De Feria had heard that \u201cHer Majesty visits him in his chamber day and night\u201d. Dudley was already married to Amy Robsart<\/a>, but this did nothing to quell the rumours, and when Amy died in mysterious circumstances (she was found dead at the bottom of a flight of stairs) in September 1560, it was whispered that Dudley had ordered her murder in order to free himself to marry the queen.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth had known Dudley since childhood, and from the beginning of her reign she showed him great favour. He was created her Master of the Horse, and in 1564 she granted him the title of Earl of Leicester. Their behaviour raised eyebrows, and although Elizabeth would later swear that nothing improper had ever passed between them, one thing is certain: Dudley was more than her favourite, and her relationship with him was arguably the most important of her life.<\/p>\n
Read more about Elizabeth I\u2019s love life: was she really a \u2018Virgin Queen\u2019?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
Handsome, clever and ambitious, it was little wonder that Dudley caught the queen\u2019s eye. She herself was a tall, slim and fiercely intelligent woman \u2013 one described by the Venetian ambassador as \u201ccomely rather than handsome\u201d.<\/p>\n
When she ascended the throne, Elizabeth \u2013 scarred by her mother, Anne Boleyn\u2019s tragic fate<\/a> \u2013 publicly declared her intention to remain unmarried and a virgin. This was of little matter to the queen\u2019s advisors, and no sooner had she taken her seat on the throne than the pressure on her began to mount: few people really believed that Elizabeth intended to remain single, and it was expected that she would marry in order to produce an heir.<\/p>\n
Various European princes began to press their suit, but not all of those who proposed marriage were of royal blood. Following the death of his wife, Robert Dudley was a free agent. And, once the scandal surrounding Amy Robsart\u2019s death had died down, he began to present himself as a serious contender for Elizabeth\u2019s hand in marriage.<\/p>\n
Dudley had already won Elizabeth\u2019s heart, but romantic attachment was not her sole consideration. She was, after all, no ordinary woman but Queen of England. Dudley would spend more than a decade attempting to persuade her to become his wife. At times Elizabeth seemed to consider it, toying and tormenting him as she persistently refused to give him a definitive answer. This was such a source of frustration to Dudley that, in 1565, he resorted to provoking her jealousy in order to sting her into a decision.<\/p>\n
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Listen | Nicola Tallis explores the life of Lettice Knollys, who enraged the Virgin Queen by marrying her favourite, Robert Dudley, on this episode of the HistoryExtra<\/em> podcast:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<hr\/><h3>The queen sees red<\/h3>\nDescribed as \u201cone of the best-looking ladies of the court\u201d, Lettice Knollys was a kinswoman of the queen, to whom she had been a \u201cdarling\u201d in her youth. Though 10 years younger than Elizabeth, the physical similarities between the two women were striking \u2013 notably their flame red hair.<\/p>\nLettice\u2019s grandmother had been the queen\u2019s aunt, Mary Boleyn, and her mother was a close companion of Elizabeth. Lettice herself had briefly served in the queen\u2019s household, and was referred to as one of her favourites. It was probably in 1561 that she married Walter Devereux, Viscount Hereford and left the court behind for leafy Staffordshire.<\/p>\nIn the summer of 1565, Lettice was back. She was pregnant with her third child, and had travelled to London to attend her brother\u2019s wedding. Elizabeth treated Lettice generously, but that summer the queen\u2019s feelings for her kinswoman were put to the test. It was reported that Robert Dudley, now Earl of Leicester, \u201cshowed attention\u201d to Lettice at the wedding celebrations \u2013 a very deliberate decision on Dudley\u2019s behalf. Flirting with Lettice would, he hoped, produce more than dithering indecision from the queen in response to his suit for her hand.<\/p>\nIt achieved no such thing. All Dudley succeeded in doing was throwing Elizabeth into a jealous rage. She admonished him, we\u2019re told, for \u201chis flirting with the viscountess in very bitter words\u201d.<\/p>\nAs the 1560s gave way to the 1570s, the queen remained unmarried \u2013 and, to many of her courtiers, it was becoming increasingly apparent that this would remain the case. She appeared to take the marriage offers of several of her European suitors seriously, before inevitably getting cold feet, and the prospect of her accepting Dudley\u2019s overtures grew more remote with every passing year.<\/p>\nThe realisation that the queen would not wed him came as a major blow to her old sweetheart. He had made enormous personal sacrifices to retain her favour, and later claimed that, since the death of his first wife, he \u201chad for a good season forborne marriage in respect of her Majesty\u2019s displeasure\u201d. In the 1570s he had however become embroiled in an affair with Lady Douglas Sheffield \u2013 one of the queen\u2019s ladies \u2013 resulting in the birth of a son, Robin Sheffield.<\/p>\nLettice Knollys\u2019s life had also reached a crossroads. For several years of the 1570s, her husband, Walter Devereux, now Earl of Essex, had been engaged in a protracted military campaign to colonise Ulster. The enterprise was a disaster, and had attracted a storm of condemnation back in England. One of Devereux\u2019s fiercest critics was Robert Dudley \u2013 and so, when Devereux died of dysentery in Dublin in September 1576, whispers soon spread that he had been poisoned on Dudley\u2019s orders. The rumours were baseless but, in light of consequent events, it is unsurprising that such gossip was circulating.<\/p>\nIn the summer of 1577, the widowed Countess of Essex spent time hunting on Dudley\u2019s Warwickshire estate, <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/elizabethan\/princely-pleasures-at-kenilworth-robert-dudleys-three-week-marriage-proposal-to-elizabeth-i\/"\">Kenilworth Castle<\/a>. It may have been here that the seeds of a romance were sown, for that year the couple\u2019s relationship became more than platonic. Whatever the circumstances, the love affair quickly became serious, and they resolved to marry. But there was one major obstacle: the queen.<\/p>\nThough Elizabeth would not marry Dudley, she was still fiercely jealous of the attention her favourite showed to other women, and was determined to keep him to herself. But Lettice and Dudley were in love, and he could sacrifice his personal happiness no longer. \u201cFor the better quieting of his own conscience\u201d he was determined to \u201cmarry with the right honourable Countess of Essex.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Marrying into trouble<\/h3>\nLettice and Dudley were fully aware that by entering a marriage they risked losing the queen\u2019s favour permanently. Yet, so strong were their feelings for one another, it was a risk they were both prepared to take. Early in the morning of 21 September 1578, they were secretly married in front of just a handful of witnesses at Wanstead, Dudley\u2019s Essex home.<\/p>\nThe couple\u2019s nuptials did not remain secret for long. Within a matter of weeks, word had started to spread. Just one question remained: how would the queen react? It was the summer of 1579 when Elizabeth was dealt the crushing blow of Dudley\u2019s betrayal. She herself was engaged in negotiations for a potential marriage with the Duc d\u2019Anjou, but that did not make the news any easier to swallow. So incandescent with rage was she that her initial reaction was to send Dudley to the <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/victorian\/anne-boleyn-guy-fawkes-and-the-princes-a-brief-history-of-the-tower-of-london\/"\">Tower of London<\/a> \u2013 a punishment he was spared thanks to the intercession of the Earl of Sussex. Nevertheless, he retired from court in disgrace, leaving his new wife to bear the brunt of the queen\u2019s fury.<\/p>\n<\/p>\nLettice was proud of her marriage \u2013 made for love \u2013 and even Elizabeth\u2019s rage could not prevent her from pretending otherwise. She was a spirited woman and, according to one hostile source, rather than meekly regretting her conduct, she now \u201cdemeaned herself like a princess\u201d. Even when the queen confronted her during the latter half of 1579 and banished her from court, Lettice showed no remorse, remaining, so we\u2019re told, \u201cas proud as ever\u201d.<\/p>\nFor all her anger, the queen could not bear to cut Robert Dudley out of her life altogether. He was soon back at court, where he resumed his former friendship with the monarch.<\/p>\nLettice enjoyed no such forgiveness. After being confronted by Elizabeth, she had little choice but to retire to the country, and would remain estranged from both queen and court until Elizabeth\u2019s death in 1603. Not even the loss of Lettice\u2019s three-year-old son by Dudley, \u2018the Noble Imp\u2019, in 1584 could soften the queen\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h3>Lovers to the end<\/h3>\nOn 4 September 1588, Lettice was by her husband\u2019s side when he died at Cornbury Park in Oxfordshire. Elizabeth was devastated, fully believing that the loss was all her own. It wasn\u2019t until Christmas Day 1634, aged 91, that Lettice followed her husband to the grave. She was laid to rest beside Dudley in St Mary\u2019s Church, Warwick, where their double tomb still survives.<\/p>\nEven in death, Lettice\u2019s tumultuous relationship with Elizabeth was not forgotten. An epitaph, thought to have been composed by her granddaughter\u2019s husband, summarises the reason for her disgrace: \u201cShe [Lettice] was content to quit her [Elizabeth] favour for her favourite [Leicester].\u201d<\/p>\nLove had won the day for Lettice Knollys, though not for Elizabeth.<\/p>\nNicola Tallis is a historian and researcher, and the author of <\/strong>Elizabeth\u2019s Rival: The Tumultuous Tale of Lettice Knollys, Countess of Leicester<\/em> (Michael O\u2019Mara Books, 2017)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nThis article was first published in the<\/em><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/magazine-issue\/december-2017\/"\"> December 2017 edition of BBC History Magazine<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By HistoryExtraAdmin Published: Wednesday, 09 February 2022 at 12:00 am The atmosphere within the queen\u2019s apartments at the Palace of Whitehall was icily cold when, in late 1579, Lettice Knollys stood before Elizabeth I. 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