The Story of the Elizabethans - 2020

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BOOK

 Elizabeth’s Rival: The Tumultuous

Tale of Lettice Knollys, Countess of

Leicester by Nicola Tallis (Michael O’Mara

Books, 2017)

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Nicola Tallis is a historian and researcher.

Her first book was Crown of Blood: The Deadly

Inheritance of Lady Jane Grey (Michael O’Mara

Books, 2016)

would remain estranged from both queen

and court until Elizabeth’s death in 1603.

Not even the loss of Lettice’s three-year-old

son by Dudley, ‘the Noble Imp’, in 1584

could soften the queen’s heart.

Lovers to the end

Lettice was by her husband’s side at

Cornbury Park in Oxfordshire when he

died on 4 September 1588. Queen Elizabeth

was herself devastated, fully believing that

the loss was all her own. It wasn’t until

Christmas Day 1634, aged 91, that Lettice

followed her husband to the grave. She

was laid to rest beside Dudley in St Mary’s

Church, Warwick, where their double

tomb still survives.

Even in death, Lettice’s tumultuous

relationship with Elizabeth was not

forgotten. An epitaph, thought to have

been composed by her granddaughter’s

husband, summarises the reason for her

disgrace: “She [Lettice] was content to

quit her [Elizabeth] favour for her

favourite [Leicester].”

Love had won the day for Lettice Knollys –

though not for Elizabeth.

Dudley’s Warwickshire estate, Kenilworth

Castle. It may have been here that the seeds

of a romance were sown, for that year the

couple’s relationship became more than

platonic. Whatever the circumstances, the

love affair quickly became serious, and they

resolved to marry. But there was one major

obstacle: the queen.

Though Elizabeth would not marry

Dudley, she was still fiercely jealous of the

attention her favourite showed to other

women, and was determined to keep

him to herself. But Lettice and Dudley

were in love, and he could sacrifice his

personal happiness no longer. “For the

better quieting of his own conscience” he

was determined to “marry with the right

honourable Countess of Essex.”

Marrying into trouble

Lettice and Dudley were fully aware that by

entering a marriage they risked losing the

queen’s favour permanently. Yet, so strong

were their feelings for one another, it was a

risk they were both prepared to take. Early

in the morning of 21 September 1578, they

were secretly married in front of just

a handful of witnesses at Wanstead,

Dudley’s Essex home.

The couple’s nuptials did not remain

secret for long. Within a matter of weeks,

word had started to spread. Just one

question remained: how would the queen

react? It was the summer of 1579 when

Elizabeth became aware of Dudley’s

betrayal. She herself was engaged in

negotiations for a potential marriage with

the Duc d’Anjou, but that did not make

the news any easier to swallow. She was

Dudley was forced

to retire from court

in disgrace, leaving

his new wife to bear

the brunt of the

queen’s fury

Robert Dudley and Lettice Knollys lie side by side in St Mary’s Church, Warwick. Lettice

was with her husband when he died in 1588, and would outlive him by 46 years

Elizabeth, shown in the 1580s. The queen

soon forgave Robert Dudley for his second

marriage, and was bereft when he died

so incandescent with rage that her initial

reaction was to order Dudley to be sent to

the Tower – a punishment he was spared

thanks to the intercession of the Earl of

Sussex. Nevertheless, he retired from court

in disgrace, leaving his new wife to bear the

brunt of the queen’s fury.

Lettice was proud of her marriage – made

for love – and even Elizabeth’s rage could

not prevent her from pretending otherwise.

She was a spirited woman and, according

to one hostile source, rather than meekly

regretting her conduct, she now “demeaned

herself like a princess”. Even when the

queen confronted her during the latter

half of 1579 and banished her from court,

Lettice showed no remorse, remaining, so

we’re told, “as proud as ever”.

For all her anger, the queen could not

bear to cut Robert Dudley out of her life

altogether. He was soon back at court,

where he resumed his friendship with

the monarch.

Lettice enjoyed no such forgiveness. After

being confronted by Elizabeth, she had

little choice but to retire to the country, and

The queen and her court / Love triangle