ALAMY/GETTYIMAGES/MARY^ EVANSconspiring, as Edward VI lay dying, to divert
the succession.
Nonetheless, Dudley was undeterred in his
pursuit of Elizabeth’s hand, confessing that
he “could not contemplate the queen’s
marriage to anyone else... without
great repugnance”. Between
1561, when mourning for
Amy ended, and 1578, when
he married the (possibly
pregnant) Lettice Knollys,
Dowager Countess of
Essex, Dudley actively
wooed Elizabeth
while doing his best to
undermine the efforts of
her foreign royal suitors.
Often – as at Kenilworth
in the summer of 1575 –
Dudley’s feelings for the
queen found expression in
the plays and paintings he
commissioned for her pleasure.Courtship at Kenilworth
So far as can be determined, the Kenilworth
festivities were designed by Dudley as an
extended marriage proposal. The elaborate
welcome staged for Elizabeth on 9 July 1575
set the tone, with its assertion that “The
Lake, the Lodge, the Lord” were hers “for
to command”. Over the course of the next
18 or 19 days this message was reiterated
in a succession of specially commissioned
dramatic entertainments articulating
Dudley’s “true love”, together with his desire
to give “himselfe and all” to the queen.
At some point during the course of these
revels Dudley seems to have unveiled two sets
of life-sized portraits of himself and Elizabeth,
newly commissioned for the picture collection
at the castle. In one set – executed by an
unidentified artist or artists – Dudley is
depicted wearing a red doublet (then, as
now, a colour associated with love – pictured
above right), Elizabeth a jewel-encrusted
white doublet that had been a gift from
Dudley at New Year 1575 (pictured far right).
In the other set – executed by the celebrated
Italian painter Federico Zuccaro, who travelledDudley’s feelings
for the queen
found expression
in the plays and
paintings he
commissioned
The queen and her court / Dudley’s proposal