The Marriage Game (51 page)

1583
 

Anjou was back in France. He had been spectacularly repelled after foolishly turning on the Dutch rebels who had failed to support him, and scuttled off home, his great ambitions in shreds.

“France never received so great a disgrace,” Walsingham pronounced.

Elizabeth said nothing. She sat brooding in her great chair. She felt no sense of triumph, only an intense sadness. All pretense that she would marry Anjou had been abandoned. She would not waste herself on a prince covered with ignominy. It did not trouble her. But she was now nearly fifty, and knew that her courting days were over.

“I am an old woman,” she said suddenly, “and paternosters must suffice in place of nuptials.”

“Not so, madam,” Burghley protested gallantly. “You are our Hebe, the goddess of youth, eternally beautiful and raised above ordinary mortals.”

“My Lord Treasurer speaks truth,” Robert chimed in, his eyes warm and tender, and the other councillors chorused in assent.

Elizabeth smiled wanly, grateful to them for their courtesy and compliments. But face it she must: the Tudor dynasty would end with her, an aging, barren woman, and instead of raising her own heirs, she would now have to grapple with the problem of the succession. Worse than that, she had lost her chief bargaining counter, which she had
played to advantage—and at no small price to herself—for a quarter of a century: her hand in marriage. No longer was she the best match in her parish, as Walsingham had once called her. Youth had fled, and she was now probably past the age for bearing children. God grant at least that she outlived the Queen of Scots!

Marriage was no longer an option, but love and fidelity were just as important. She had persuaded herself that Robert’s chief loyalty was still to her, and resolutely ignored the likelihood that he had a prior loyalty to another, so she was furious when, that summer, he mentioned
that woman
—and as “my lady wife,” if you please—in her presence. In fact she was so incensed that she sent him from the court in disgrace, then went about telling everyone that Lettice—
that she-wolf
—had made him a cuckold.

“I will expose her in all the courts of Christendom for the bad woman she is,” she growled. But her inner voice of wisdom told her that she should not dare to provoke Robert that far, and by the end of August all was forgiven—at least on her part, for Robert was finding it hard to forgive Elizabeth for the unfounded calumny she had spread about Lettice—and he was back at court, in greater favor than he’d enjoyed for a long time. His place at the Queen’s side was to remain unchallenged, because soon afterward his old adversary Sussex died, and with him gone, Leicester’s opponents lost their mouthpiece.

Robert was in favor, yes, but his power, like his health, was waning. He wanted—as he had for so long—to lead an army into the Netherlands and drive out the Spaniards, while he still could, but Elizabeth would not hear of it. He was not well, she reminded him. She did not like the high, ruddy color of his cheeks, and she worried a lot about the stomach pains he now suffered increasingly. She nagged him more than ever to eat a careful diet and made him visit Buxton once more to take the waters. Nothing seemed to help. Pain, and anxiety about his condition, made Robert short-tempered and intolerant of criticism; to hear him these days, you would think that every man was his enemy.

“What ails you, Robin?” Elizabeth asked, unable to conceal her fear. “You always had a mild, amiable nature. I appeal from this lord of
Leicester to my old lord of Leicester, who won the praise of so many. I want him back!”

He forced a smile. “I am sorry I have been like an old bear, Bess. I’ll be better in a few days. Just let me get back in the saddle and give the Spaniards a trouncing, and I will be a new man.”

“No!” she said, more vehemently than she intended. “England cannot muster an army strong enough to overcome Parma’s forces.”

“Tactics, Bess, tactics! What of Crécy and Agincourt? We were heavily outnumbered in both battles, but we won great victories.”

“I will not take the chance, and I will not risk your safety. You occupy a special place in my heart, Robin.”

“I know that, Bess.” He wished he could compete with her younger favorites, Raleigh and now young Charles Blount, newly come to court. Really, it was ridiculous to see a twenty-year-old boy fawning over a woman of fifty—and Charles was not the only one. All the youth of England seemed to be clamoring to be part of the charmed elite that clustered around the Queen. Already she was a legend, and her popularity had never been greater, especially in the wake of a horrifying plot to shoot her and put her head on a pole over London Bridge. The perpetrator had been a mad Catholic lad acting alone but inspired by Jesuit propaganda, and he hanged himself in his cell at Newgate before they could put his head where he had meant to put his queen’s.

In the wake of this lucky escape there was an upsurge of love and loyalty for Elizabeth. Wherever she went, crowds would gather, and people knelt by the wayside wishing her a thousand blessings, calling down curses on those evil persons who meant harm to her.

“I see clearly that I am not disliked by all,” she observed. She would have no children of her own, yet it was heartening to know that she was widely seen as a careful mother to her people, the small as well as the great, whom she had kept in safety and quietness these twenty-five years.

1585
 

The court was at Nonsuch Palace in Surrey, enjoying the brilliant July weather and the hunting to be had nearby, when a messenger arrived from Wanstead with the news that Robert’s little son was dead of a fever. In an agony of grief, he saddled his horse and galloped homeward to console Lettice, not even pausing to ask Elizabeth’s permission to depart. But she understood, and forgave him for it. She sent after him a courtier, Sir Henry Killigrew, with a heartfelt message of sympathy. Burghley, in turn, placed his house, Theobalds, at the disposal of the bereaved parents, so they could mourn in private in a place where there were no reminders of their precious boy.

When Robert returned to court, having laid his only heir to rest in St. Mary’s Church at Warwick, he was a grievously changed and desolate man. He had aged ten years in as many weeks, and the pains in his stomach had intensified. Elizabeth did her best to console him, as did his colleagues on the council, but all he could think of was the loss of his boy.

“My noble imp was just five years old,” he wept. “He was too good for this world. Now all my wealth will go to my brother Warwick.” It was heartrendingly clear that Robert would father no more children. Aged beyond his years at fifty-three, he plainly did not have the vigor for it.

“I want to retire from public life,” he said abruptly.

“No, my Eyes,” said Elizabeth. “I will not hear of it.”

“You are needed here, my lord,” Hatton told him. “You cannot abandon us now.” He spoke truth, because the Queen of Scots had been found actively plotting against Elizabeth, and it was evident that she was determined to overthrow her and seize her throne; William of Orange, the brave leader of the Dutch Protestants, had been murdered on King Philip’s orders; and Elizabeth’s subjects were in terror lest she be next on Spain’s list. With William gone—and Anjou dead this past year, of malaria contracted in the Netherlands—nothing now stood between England and that great Spanish army in the Netherlands, and Parma was advancing relentlessly …

What would happen when there were no more cities left to take?

Elizabeth turned to Robert. “Pull yourself together, old man. I am sending you to the Netherlands at the head of an army, to aid the Protestants there. I hope that cheers you!”

Robert turned his ravaged face to her in amazement. “After all this time, you have consented to let me go?” he asked, unable to quite believe her.

“It is against my better judgment,” she said briskly, “but I know that I can trust you, and that you are enthusiastic about the venture.”

Robert’s eyes lit up; she had known this was the one thing that would rouse him from the torpor of grief. But yes, she had her qualms. His health was not good, and it was thirty years since he had seen action in the field. Warfare had changed in that time, and Parma was a great general. But she had made her decision not only for reasons of state, but also to divert Robert from his grief and restore his pride (and hers, if truth be told) in his manhood. Yet now that she had issued the order, she would have given much to retract it.

Robert’s spirits, however, were revived by the prospect of trouncing the Spaniards. He would show those young bucks and gallants at the court what he was made of! He only wished that he was twenty years younger.

Seeing him busily occupied with preparations for the coming campaign, Elizabeth found her heart sinking. She could not face the prospect of parting from him. Something strange was happening to her,
and had been for a year now. As her monthly courses had visited her less frequently, her moods became ever more variable, and her temper more volatile. She could not help herself. She was more emotional these days, more given to irrational outbursts. To her horror, she was becoming what she had always despised, a clinging woman—and the man she was clinging to was Robert.

In despair, she summoned him one night. She sounded pitiful, even to herself. “Do not go to the Netherlands and leave me,” she pleaded. “I—I fear I will not live long.” In truth, what she feared was that
he
would not live long, but she could not say that.

“That’s nonsense!” he retorted. “You have the constitution of an ox, and will outlive us all. Now, no more of this kind of talk. You know, none better, how much our English presence is needed over there. We will push back the Spaniards and then I will come home in triumph, and we will have a big celebration.”

“Yes,” she said, unconvinced.

“Do not worry, Bess,” Robert reassured her. “All will be well.”

She was more cheerful after that. But how long this feeling would last was anyone’s guess. One night Robert found himself being shaken awake by a groom in royal livery who informed him that it was the Queen’s pleasure that he forbear to proceed with his military preparations until further notice.

What the hell was she playing at? Swearing great oaths, he pulled on some clothes and went in search of his fellow councillors, desperate to enlist their support. He found Walsingham working late in his closet, and slumped down on the stool facing him.

“Why, Robert, whatever ails you?” Walsingham said, laying down his pen and dragging his mind away from implementing the latest security measures against the Scottish queen.

“I am weary of life and all,” Robert blurted out, and related what had happened.

“I shouldn’t worry too much about it,” Walsingham said soothingly. “You know what our mistress is like. She may be of another mind in the morning.”

And she was. She rescinded the order. Yet still she showed herself
morose and irritable at the prospect of Robert’s impending departure. And so it went on for days. Then she had another gripe.

“You are to be my Lieutenant General,” she informed him. It was an insult. He had expected to be accorded the highest rank, Captain General; it was his right, and it served a practical purpose, for it commanded the greatest respect.

“Why, in God’s name?” he barked.

“I do not want you seeking your own glory rather than my true service,” Elizabeth said peevishly.

He was speechless. “Any glory I win will naturally be yours,” he countered, trying to control his anger at yet another affront to his integrity.

“But the Dutch might not see it that way. And, my lord, you must never accept from them any title or role that implies my acceptance of the sovereignty of the Netherlands, for I do not want it.”

“You can rely on me, madam,” he replied stiffly. Two could play at being formal. Her unfair assumption stung, and he felt that he must say something to counter it. “Your Majesty puts me on trial to test how much I love you, and you even try to discourage me from your service, but I am resolved that nothing in this world shall draw me back from my faithful discharge of my duty toward you—even though you seem to hate me, which touches me very nearly, for suddenly I find no love or favor in you at all.”