Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester biography

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Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester Biography

LEICESTER, Robert Dudley, Earl of (c.1532–88). A favorite of Queen Elizabeth. He was the fifth son of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, and received a very good education. At an early age he was taken to court, where he met the Princess (later Queen) Elizabeth. In 1550 he was married publicly to Amy Robsart, and, although they lived much apart, there was never, so far as is known, any serious quarrel between them. After the death of Edward VI, in 1553, Dudley aided in the attempt to place his sister-in-law, Lady Jane Grey, on the throne, for which he was imprisoned in the Tower. On the accession of Elizabeth in 1558, Dudley rapidly advanced and became the Queen's favorite, and for a long time it was thought they would marry. Nevertheless, Elizabeth allowed Dudley little or no influence in political affairs. The intimacy between Elizabeth and Dudley gave rise to several rumors of a scandalous nature, and when in 1560 Lady Amy was found dead from a fall down a flight of stairs, the belief spread that she had been murdered, though there is no evidence to prove that it was not an accident. Scott's Kenilworth is based on the popular rumors of the time. In 1563 it was suggested that Dudley should marry Mary, Queen of Scots, and he was made Earl of Leicester; but in 1565 the Scottish Queen married Darnley. Meanwhile Leicester had been made chancellor of Oxford University, but his future was darkened by the fact that Elizabeth realized the impracticability of marrying him, for he was very unpopular and opposed by all the old nobility. In 1571 he seems to have married the widow of John, second Baron of Sheffield, but afterward he refused to acknowledge her as his wife, and in 1578 married Lettice Knollys, Countess of Essex, at the news of which the Queen was very angry. When in 1585 Elizabeth decided to aid the Netherlands in their struggle for independence from Spanish rule, Leicester received command of the expedition, and in the following year the States-General elected him Governor. His incapacity, however, soon showed forth glaringly, and he lost town after town, so that the Dutch were glad when in 1587 he was recalled. In 1588 Elizabeth appointed him commander of the forces assembled to oppose the Spanish invasion, but he died soon after, on Sept. 4, 1588.

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XIII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 745.