THE HISTORY ESSAYALAMYgiven her a month’s leave from court because the girl was said to
have caught the measles and needed to recuperate at home.
Bridget, though, did not return, preferring life with her husband.
When the queen learned the truth, she was furious with the
married couple and “highly offended” with Bridget’s mother, who
had connived at the deception. For several months the bride was
placed in the keeping of the Countess of Bedford, and her husband
languished in the Tower.
The queen did not always object to courtiers’ marriages, and
when she did deny them permission to marry, she usually had
a sound reason for doing so. Most often it was because she consid-
ered that the couple seeking marriage were of unequal status;
sometimes it was because of their youth; and on a few occasions,
objections to a match could be political. The union of a potential
heir to the throne (such as Katherine Grey) to a man from a power-
ful noble family (in Katherine’s case, the Earl of Hertford) held
obvious political dangers. Elizabeth could also be concerned that
courtiers would put their responsibilities to their new spouses be-
fore their service to their queen. For this reason, she preferred that
the wives of certain courtiers were kept away from court. Those
who stayed on were at all times expected to show total dedication to
their queen at the expense of their family life.
Elizabeth claimed that she always furthered “any honest or
honorable purposes of marriage or preferment to any of hers,
when without scandal and infamy they have been orderly brokenunto her”. And, in general, this was true. When permission to
marry had been requested and granted, the queen provided
generous gifts to the brides and happily attended their weddings.
She ordered a black satin gown as a wedding present for her
chamberer, Dorothy Broadbelt, and she gave her maid of honour
Margaret Edgecombe a pair of richly embroidered gloves. We do
not know what gift another maid of honour, Frances Radcliffe,
received, but we do know that the queen attended the nuptial
supper, masques and dances. She also attended Anne Russell’s
wedding to the Earl of Warwick, which was performed in the
Chapel Royal at Whitehall Palace, and the celebratory banquet
and tournament that were held afterwards at court.
The queen’s anger at the men and women who married without
her permission soon abated, if she was especially fond of them and
their fault was not judged too great. Elizabeth had delivered “blows
and evil words” to her chamberer and cousin Mary Shelton on
learning of her secret marriage to the gentleman pensioner John
Scudamore – another unequal union. But before long the queen
welcomed both back into her service and showed the couple great
favour. Mary was one of her preferred sleeping companions, and
also acted as a frequent intermediary for the queen, delivering
messages and receiving gifts on her mistress’s behalf. John was
later knighted and afterwards appointed the standard-bearer of
gentlemen pensioners.L
et’s turn now to Elizabeth’s relationship with
Essex. Was she really as besotted with him as is
commonly believed? Undoubtedly, during his
fi rst dec ade at cou r t E l i z abe t h be stowed upon h i m
all the signifiers of intimacy outlined above, but
she was never infatuated or in love with the earl.
He was certainly not Elizabeth’s sole male com-
panion, but initially had to tolerate the equal favour she showed
to Ralegh and Southampton.
Furthermore, Essex never enjoyed the full confidence and trust
of the queen. She was wary of his advice to pursue an offensive
war strategy, suspecting that he was too partial to the French
king, Henry IV, and too ready to be reckless with royal funds. She
disliked his attempts at self-aggrandisement, as when he tried to
take full credit for the successes of a 1596 expedition to Cadiz.
She grew irritated by his attempts to badger her into promoting
his friends to positions they did not deserve. It is true that she
forgave his insubordination and difficult moods too readily, but
she was induced to do so by privy councillors who mediated on
his behalf because they recognised the earl’s worth to the state
and importance to the war effort.
However, by 1599 Essex had lost his powerful mediators with
the queen. With the deaths of key supporters on the council –
Hatton in 1591, Sir Francis Knollys in 1596, Lord Burghley in
1598 – Essex should have built up strong alliances with the newEssex fell from power not because Elizabeth saw sense and was
shaken out of her infatuation with her unreliable ‘toyboy’, but
because he badly overplayed his hand in a political power struggle
Elizabeth I was never in love or infatuated with Essex, seen here
in a contemporary portrait, argues Susan DoranThe queen and her court / Personal politics