Elizabeth (28 page)
To further underline her independence, Elizabeth started flirting with Sir Thomas Heneage, Treasurer of the Privy Chamber. Robert reacted jealously, to which Elizabeth responded in verse that this wasn’t a very attractive trait:
No crooked leg, no blearèd eye,
No part deformèd out of kind,
Nor yet so ugly half can be
As is the inward, suspicious mind.
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Heneage was seen by some as a natural competitor to Robert for the Queen’s favour. Cecil had remarked on an apparent change in affection in a letter to Sir Thomas Smith in October, ‘There are sundry rumours … that my Lord of Leicester should not have so great favour as he had; … that Mr Heneage should be in very good favour with her Majesty and so misliked by my Lord of Leicester.’
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Heneage was the same age as the Queen and a graduate of Queen’s College, Cambridge. He had been Steward at Hatfield before becoming a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber. He was married to Anne Poyntz, who was from a prominent West Country family. He and his wife had one child, a daughter named Elizabeth, who was born in 1556. Nonetheless, Robert was still considered as the Queen’s closest associate, even though Elizabeth had put into motion a proposed marriage between him and Mary, Queen of Scots, to which both parties seemed lukewarm at best.
Sir James Melville, the Scottish Ambassador, visited Elizabeth in 1564, in part to try to arrange a meeting between her and Mary.
They touched briefly on Lord Robert, whom the Queen referred to as ‘her brother and best friend, whom she would have married herself had she minded to take a husband.’
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Melville records that:
She [Elizabeth] took me to her bed-chamber and opened a little desk, wherein were divers little pictures wrapt within paper, and their names written with her own hand upon the papers. Upon the first that she took up was written, ‘My lord’s picture’. I held the candle, and pressed to see that picture so named. She was loath to let me see it; at length my importunity prevailed for a sight thereof and found it to be the Earl of Leicester’s picture. I desired that I might have it to carry home to my Queen; which she refused, alleging she had but one picture of his. I said again that she had the original, for he was at the farthest part of the chamber, speaking with secretary Cecil … She showed me also a fair ruby, as great as a tennis-ball. I desired that she would either send it or else my Lord of Leicester’s picture, as a token unto the Queen [Mary]. She said, if the queen would follow her counsel, that she would in process of time get them both, and all she had.
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Melville seemed to have the measure of Elizabeth, understanding her resistance to marriage: ‘I know your stately stomach. You think, if you were married, you would be but Queen of England, and now you are King and Queen both – you may not suffer a commander.’
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When Melville finally left the Court, Robert was his escort. He told Melville to report to Mary that he was not so presumptuous that he would ask for her hand. He claimed it had all been a plot, ‘a wily move of Mr Secretary Cecil, designed to ruin him with both Queens.’
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Robert was not ready to give up on Elizabeth yet. He wrote to Cecil in October, asking again for his support in winning over the Queen. He knew that Cecil was endeavouring to try to marry her to a foreign prince, but stated: ‘I will now tell you plainly that I am a claimant for the hand of the queen, and it seems to me that she looks upon no one with favour but myself.’
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He requested that Cecil cease his other attempts to marry off Elizabeth and concentrate on promoting Robert’s case, promising to reward Cecil with ‘further elevation’. Cecil passed Robert’s hopes on to Elizabeth, who promised Robert he should have his answer by Christmas. When the end of the year arrived, Elizabeth wavered, as always, and failed to keep her promise.
These events brought an end to talk of Mary, Queen of Scots and Robert’s marriage – in any case, neither had seemed keen to pursue the idea. In reality, Mary was considering a prospect she felt was more suitable, her cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, whose name had been raised as a potential husband several years earlier by his mother, Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox. At that time, other candidates, Elizabeth’s opposition to the idea (he had a claim to the English throne as a grandson of Margaret Tudor) and Darnley’s own youth had put paid to the idea. Now he was older and had grown into an outstandingly handsome young man.
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His bloodline linked to Mary’s would give the couple an almost unshakeable position as heirs to the English throne. In the end, Mary’s decision was swayed by love. She married him, against all opposition, in July 1565, proclaiming him King of Scotland.
Although this alliance was arguably a threat to Elizabeth’s throne, it also had positive repercussions. Mary was now unable to marry any of the available foreign princes or kings: such a marriage would have allied Scotland with strong European nations that could threaten England. Furthermore, the Queen of Scots’ new
husband was considered to be an immature, shallow, selfish fool, and was unpopular with many of the Scottish nobles. There was much opposition to their union, and Elizabeth herself had not consented, so she did not feel bound to discuss the couple’s position as heirs to the Crown of England. In addition, the marriage left Robert at her Court in England.
This did not stop Elizabeth from enjoying the company of other men at Court. In 1565, Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond (‘The Black Earl’), became Elizabeth’s favourite for a time. He was a charming and amusing Irishman who Elizabeth had known since childhood. They had met at the court of Edward VI, where Butler, like Robert, was one of the sons of nobles selected to be educated with the young King. He and Elizabeth had a further link as cousins, since Anne Boleyn’s grandmother had been a Butler.
In honour of his dark, smouldering good looks, Elizabeth called him her ‘black husband’ and openly delighted in his company. At the time, Butler was separated from his first wife and he spent much time at the Court in England, and Elizabeth trusted his opinion and enjoyed his company. They would remain close friends over the years, with Butler building a Tudor castle in Ireland to be able to welcome the Queen, although she would never visit the country.
Elizabeth would bestow honours on him in later years and her favour of him sometimes gave rise to rumours about the nature of their relationship. When Butler willed an extraordinarily large inheritance to the eldest of his illegitimate sons, Piers, speculations arose that the son must have a very illustrious mother. Some claimed that it had been Thomas Butler, not Thomas Seymour, who had fathered a child to Elizabeth in 1548, and that the child had gone to his father’s family in Ireland to be raised.
The year of 1565 also saw the first instance of Robert showing favour to someone other than the Queen. It was reported that he
seemed to have a special fondness for Lettice Knollys, who was a maid of the Privy Chamber. At the time, the 22-year-old Lettice was married to Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, with whom she had two daughters. The Spanish Ambassador Guzman da Silva is alleged to have described her as one of the ‘best-looking ladies of the court’.
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The Queen was apparently displeased with this development, and Lettice left Court to return to her husband’s home in Staffordshire. This would not be the end of Robert and Lettice’s relationship, however.
Meanwhile, developments to the North of the border were showing Mary, Queen of Scots’ choice of husband to be a disaster. In less than a year, Mary and Darnley had come to dislike each other intensely. Thomas Randolph, the English Ambassador to Scotland, wrote to Cecil, ‘I know now for certain that the Queen repenteth her marriage, that she hateth the King and all his kin …’
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Darnley, who was drinking to excess, started rumours that the Queen’s Italian secretary and musician, David Rizzio, was also her lover. As Mary was pregnant at the time, Rizzio was accused of being the father of her child. In March, Darnley and a group of Protestant nobles who supported him murdered Rizzio in Mary’s presence.
In June, estranged from her husband, Mary gave birth to a son, James. There would be some attempts at reconciliation between the couple, but in early 1567, Darnley was murdered, an event that would lead to further problems for Mary. She faced rebellion from Protestant nobles and general suspicion about her next choice of husband, James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, who had been implicated in the murder of Darnley. These events would contribute to Mary losing her throne in July 1567.
Although these developments carried political advantages for Elizabeth, they were unlikely to change her rather sceptical opinion of marriage. Parliament had again taken up the question in 1566, trying to get the Queen to agree to marry or settle the succession. Elizabeth responded angrily: Did she not govern well? she demanded, before storming out of the meeting. They tried, over the following days, to get a response and Elizabeth agreed to some concessions, but again flew into a temper, calling her Councillors various names from ‘traitor’ to ‘swaggering soldier’.
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When William Parr, 1st Marquis of Northampton, tried to speak, she told him he would be better to say nothing; his marital problems had taken an Act of Parliament to sort out. She turned on Robert himself, stating that of all people she had expected his support. When he responded that he was ready to die at her feet, Elizabeth retorted ‘that had nothing to do with the matter’. She then ordered him to be put under house arrest.
When she had calmed down, Elizabeth finally agreed that she would marry as soon as was convenient and have children as soon as nature permitted, but reminded her government that despite being a woman, she had the courage of her father and would ‘never be by violence constrained to do anything’.
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As for the succession, she was painfully aware of the dangers to the country and herself of choosing the wrong heir, whose ambitions of power could imperil the kingdom.
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Elizabeth allowed negotiations for a possible marriage with Charles, Archduke of Austria, to continue. In June 1567, Thomas Radclyffe was sent to Emperor Maximilian II’s Court with the Order of the Garter for the Emperor, along with a portrait of Elizabeth for his brother, Archduke Charles.
Radclyffe sent back a lengthy report describing Charles: auburn-haired, with a good complexion, cheerful, courteous,
princely, with good hands and well-proportioned legs. He spoke his native German, as well as some Spanish, Italian and a little Latin. He was universally beloved, a most virtuous man and a valiant warrior, having led his father’s armies against the Turks to keep the eastern borders safe. He loved riding, hunting and hawking, and also liked to study, particularly astronomy and cosmography. Radclyffe was impressed by the Archduke and commended him to the Queen, saying he would make ‘a true husband, a loving companion, a wise councillor, and a faithful servant, and we shall have as virtuous a prince as ever ruled.’
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Religion remained the sticking point, however. Archduke Charles had told Radclyffe ‘… if I might have hope that her Majesty would bear with me for my conscience [as a Catholic] I know not that thing in the world I would refuse to do at her commandment. And surely I have from the beginning of the matter settled my heart upon her, and never thought of other wife, if she would think me worthy to be her husband.’
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As to whether he might convert to Protestantism, Charles replied that he and his family had always been Catholic and the Queen would think very little of him if he casually tossed his religion away. He only asked that he be allowed to attend Catholic services in private.
When the Council met to discuss the matter, Radclyffe, who was in favour, was abroad; Thomas Howard, who was in favour, was ill, and so Cecil, who was also in favour, was outnumbered. Robert, who was against the union, emphasized the religious divide, and the Council voted not to support the marriage.
Elizabeth, now aged 34, seemed somewhat relieved – as no doubt was Robert. The Spanish Ambassador da Silva, writing to Philip II, saw the religious question as just another justification for Elizabeth to avoid marrying, stating that the Queen leaves ‘herself always a loop hole to escape from’.
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Archduke Charles
would finally marry his niece, Maria Anna of Bavaria, in 1571, with whom he would go on to have 15 children. Elizabeth was said to be insulted by this match.
In November 1568, Elizabeth had one last chance with one of her earliest beaus, Philip II, when she was told of the death of Elisabeth de Valois, his French wife. Elizabeth sent her condolences, claiming that she and her Court would go into mourning with suitably sombre ceremonies in the dead Queen’s honour.
In an exchange with French Ambassador de La Mothe Fénelon, she expressed surprise that Philip had not written to her with the news himself, then surmised that perhaps it would not be deemed decent to send ‘letters to an unmarried girl, like her …’. De La Mothe rejoined, ‘I thanked her and only added that the King of Spain was still young enough to take a fourth wife.’
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This exchange must have amused both parties.