Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester

Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester (born June 24, 1532/33—died Sept. 4, 1588, Cornbury, Oxfordshire, Eng.) was a favourite and possible lover of Queen Elizabeth I of England. Handsome and immensely ambitious, he failed to win the Queen’s hand in marriage but remained her close friend to the end of his life. His arrogance, however, undermined his effectiveness as a political and military leader.

He was the fifth son of John Dudley, duke of Northumberland, virtual ruler of England during the later part of the reign of Edward VI. After the failure of his father’s conspiracy to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne in 1553, Robert was imprisoned in the Tower of London, but he was released the following year and served with the English forces in France in 1557.

With the accession of Elizabeth in 1558, Dudley’s fortunes soared rapidly. She at once made him master of the horse, and in April 1559 he became a privy councillor and Knight of the Garter. He soon won the Queen’s affection and favour, but his pretensions aroused bitter jealousy at court. When his wife, Amy, née Robsart, died in September 1560, it was widely rumoured that Dudley had murdered her in order to marry Elizabeth. Though there is no evidence to support this suspicion, Dudley did become an active suitor of the Queen. She rejected him, even proposing that he wed Mary, Queen of Scots. Probably to further this design, Elizabeth made him earl of Leicester and Baron Denbigh in September 1564.

In 1571 Leicester began an affair with the dowager Lady Sheffield. They were almost certainly never married, and he cast her off in 1578, when he secretly wed Lettice Knollys, widow of Walter Devereux, earl of Essex. A Puritan, Leicester became the leader of those Protestants who favoured vigorous action against Spain abroad and against the Roman Catholics at home. His zeal caused him to be attacked, presumably by a Catholic writer, in a famous but highly distorted exposé of his character known as Leicester’s Commonwealth (1584).

In 1585 Elizabeth sent Leicester in command of a force of 6,000 troops to the United Provinces (the Netherlands) to assist their revolt against Spain. He proved to be not only an incompetent commander but also a failure in his political role. His policies, in violation of Elizabeth’s instructions, and his arrogant manner alienated the Dutch and resulted in his recall to England in 1587. Despite his shortcomings, the Queen appointed him in 1588 lieutenant general of the army mustered at Tilbury against the Spanish Armada. Later that year he died suddenly at his home.