On the final episode of their Elizabeth I podcast miniseries, Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things hosts Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams unpick why the Virgin Queen never married during her unprecedented 44-year reign.
When Elizabeth ascended to the English throne aged 25 in 1558, she immediately became the most eligible Royal in Europe.
As the only surviving heir of the Tudor dynasty, it was of paramount importance to the kingdom that Elizabeth produced children to shore up succession and avoid a potential civil war upon her death.
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On the final episode of their Elizabeth I podcast miniseries, Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams unpick why the Virgin Queen never married
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The Queen was rumoured to be deeply fond of her Master of Horse, Robert Dudley
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Despite receiving proposals from some of the Continent’s most powerful monarchs, Elizabeth chose to rule alone during her childbearing years.
Her decision was largely driven by the laws of the time, which designated wives as the property of their husbands. Elizabeth knew that if she were to marry a suitor befitting of her status, a foreign noble could lay a legitimate claim to the English crown.
However, there was one suitor whose low birth would not present Elizabeth with such a dilemma. The Queen was rumoured to be deeply fond of her Master of Horse, Robert Dudley.
Childhood friends, Dudley and Elizabeth had both been imprisoned in the Tower of London as children of parents executed for treason.
Dudley was already married when he worked in Elizabeth’s court. However, his wife Amy Robsart was very ill with breast cancer, and rumours began to swirl that upon her death, he would marry the Queen.
The podcast explores how Robsart’s shocking and unsolved murder would destroy that potential Royal marriage, dooming Elizabeth to die childless and ushering in the end of the legendary Tudor dynasty.
The Mysterious Murder of Amy Robsart
Despite seemingly offering a solution to Elizabeth’s marriage quandary, her senior advisors were not keen on Dudley as a potential match.
They each had their own candidates and saw in the wildcard option of Dudley a direct threat to their power, as Professor Kate Williams explained.
‘No one wanted Elizabeth to marry him,’ she said.
‘Her ambassadors did not like it because they wanted their own prince to marry her.
‘Elizabeth’s Secretary of State William Cecil threatened to resign if she went through with it. Kat Ashley, the Queen’s beloved governess, did not like Dudley either.
‘However, Elizabeth remained deeply fond of him and as an Englishman, he would have been popular with the country which put him in pole position.’
While Dudley was busy entertaining the Queen during her 27th birthday celebrations at Windsor Castle, a plot was hatched that would completely remove him from the running.
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Despite seemingly offering a solution to Elizabeth’s marriage quandary, her senior advisors were not keen on Dudley as a potential match
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Although Robsart was already dying, Williams explained why the manner of her death was ‘catastrophic’ to Dudley’s social standing
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With Dudley eliminated from contention, Elizabeth would go on to receive 26 further marriage proposals from Europe’s most powerful men. None would come as close
Robsart, Dudley’s ailing wife, would be found dead while her husband was away. She was discovered by their servants lying at the bottom of a short flight of stairs with a broken neck.
Although Robsart was already dying, Williams explained why the manner of her death was ‘catastrophic’ to Dudley’s social standing.
‘People started to say that Dudley commissioned someone to kill her, getting Robsart out of the way because he wanted to marry Elizabeth,’ the historian said.
‘There are various theories over what really happened to Amy. Historians discount that she died by her own hand because it was viewed as a great sin at the time.
What ‘genius’ tactic would a future Queen of England use to save herself from execution?
‘She had also recently bought a new dress not long before she died, which doesn’t suggest she was in low spirits. It was either a very strange accident or she was murdered.
‘Some people believe it was William Cecil who orchestrated it to frame Dudley. I don’t believe that’s true.
‘I think it was at the behest of the foreign ambassadors. Philip of Spain would have had plenty of reasons to get rid of Amy Robsart.
‘Regardless, it meant that Dudley could never marry Elizabeth. That taint was always going to hang over him. He was pushed out of the picture.’
With Dudley eliminated from contention, Elizabeth would go on to receive 26 further marriage proposals from Europe’s most powerful men. None would come as close.
She died in 1603 aged 69, childless and unmarried, and with her went the entire Tudor dynasty.
To hear more stories like this one, search for Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things now, wherever you get your podcasts.
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