- Photo:
- user uploaded image
Queen Elizabeth I's Personal Life Was So Intense It Nearly Split An Entire Continent In Half
She Had A Longtime 'Friendship' With Robert Dudley That May Have Produced A Love Child
Princess Elizabeth found great comfort in her friendship with Robert Dudley, the son of the Duke of Northumberland. The two were companions and shared a bond that only intensified when they were both imprisoned in the Tower of London by the newly installed Queen Mary in 1553. Elizabeth and Dudley spent so much time together that there was speculation about them being lovers, even though Elizabeth swore that while she loved him, "nothing unseemly had ever passed between" the pair.
The uncertainty of Elizabeth and Dudley's relationship, especially after she became queen in 1558, only fed into the rumors about the couple. A young man named Arthur appeared in Madrid in 1587 and claimed to be the love child of Queen Elizabeth and Robert Dudley, furthering the intrigue. Arthur Dudley claimed that after his birth in 1561, he was taken into the care of Robert Southern, who raised him as his own. Arthur said he did not learn about his true parentage until 1583, when Southern confessed to his adopted son on his deathbed.
The timing of Arthur's birth, estimated to be around 1561, coincided with a period in Elizabeth's life when she was ill and removed from the public eye. At least one person claimed Elizabeth was "swelling extraordinarily" around this time.
At the time, Dudley was engaged in a controversy of his own - his wife, Amy Robsart, perished under suspicious circumstances in 1560. One of the arguments in support of the idea that Arthur was Elizabeth and Dudley's child is that he had no reason to lie. His admission only made his life more dangerous. An argument against the notion of a secret love child is that Elizabeth would not have been able to hide a pregnancy from all of her companions, courtiers, and attendants.
- Photo:
- Nicholas Denizot
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public Domain
Her Step-Uncle, Thomas Seymour, May Have Tried To Take Advantage Of Her When She Was 14
Elizabeth's relationship with Thomas Seymour, brother to Henry VIII's third wife Jane Seymour, has raised a lot of questions over the years. Seymour was not only Elizabeth's former uncle (Jane Seymour perished soon after giving birth to the future King Edward VI in 1537), but was also married to Henry VIII's widow, Katherine Parr.
After Elizabeth's father passed away in 1547, Thomas Seymour asked Elizabeth to marry him, although she was only about 14 at the time. Seymour was 25 years older than her and Elizabeth politely declined (there is some speculation that she may have been infatuated with him). He soon became engaged to Katherine Parr, the surviving wife of Henry VIII, with whom he'd previously been involved. Parr and Seymour were married in 1547 and established a household where Elizabeth spent much of her time.
That didn't last long, however. Seymour would visit Elizabeth's bedchamber early in the mornings, playfully spanking her on "the back or the buttocks" and joking that he should have his way with her. He tried to kiss her and tickled her on different occasions, and while there's no evidence of Elizabeth's reaction, the nature of his relationship with the much younger princess was deemed inappropriate. After a final incident in which Parr found her husband and her step-daughter in an embrace, she sent Elizabeth away to her governess's brother's house in 1548. Elizabeth was secluded there, leading to speculation that she was pregnant with Seymour's child.
There's some evidence that Seymour's advances were unwanted by Elizabeth. She supposedly wrote, "Thou, touch me not,” then deleted it, and wrote instead, “Let him not touch me," on the outside of a letter she once sent him.
Parr passed away in 1548, but it's not known whether her demise factored into Seymour's imprisonment and subsequent execution for treason in 1549 - although his plot to capture King Edward VI didn't help his chances for survival.
- Photo:
- Photo:
Whether Or Not Elizabeth Was Actually A Virgin Queen Remains A Mystery
With all her suitors and rumored relationships, it's impossible to know if the Virgin Queen remained a virgin throughout her life. She told Parliament:
But if I continue in this kind of life I have begun, I doubt not but God will so direct mine own and your Counsels, that ye shall not need to doubt of a Successour which may be more beneficial to the Commonwealth than he which may be born of me, considering that the Issue of the best Princes many times degenerateth. And to me it shall be a full satisfaction, both for the memorial of my Name, and for my Glory also, if when I shall let my last breath, it be ingraven upon my Marble Tomb, Here lieth Elizabeth, which Reigned a Virgin, and died a Virgin.
She knew she'd never produce an heir and was willing to proudly be called a virgin because of it.
There has been speculation, however, that Elizabeth couldn't have a child. Historian Allison Weir wrote that the playwright Ben Jonson told a friend Elizabeth had "a membrane on her, which made her incapable of man." This assertion - likely gossip, per Weir - could mean she had an abnormally thick hymen or suffered from vaginismus, a condition that affects a woman's ability to engage in intercourse, making it painful or impossible.
- Photo:
- Isaac Oliver/Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger
- WikiMedia Commons
- Public Domain
Elizabeth May Have Equated Sexuality With Death
Elizabeth's mother was beheaded by her father on trumped up charges of adultery, and she saw subsequent step-mothers suffer through similar experiences. As historian Allison Weir noted, she may have had a "mental aversion" to sexuality as a whole.
The pain of childbirth alone may have been enough to prevent her from engaging in intercourse, especially since it could be life-threatening to the monarch. Avoiding marriage and avoiding pregnancy could do wonders for prolonging a woman's life during the Tudor period. Elizabeth's step-mother Jane Seymour perished soon after giving birth, as did Katherine Parr.
- Photo:
- Photo:
- George Gower
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public Domain
Elizabeth I And Robert Dudley Played Flirtation Games To Make Each Other Jealous
When Elizabeth was unhappy with Robert Dudley, she let him know it. When Elizabeth began flirting with Thomas Heneage, Dudley became jealous and confronted the queen, who dismissed him. In despair, Dudley withdrew for four days. He rebounded though and took up a flirtation of his own, giving attention to Lettice Knollys, a daughter of one of Elizabeth's attendants and her own distant cousin. Elizabeth got so jealous that she flew into "a great temper" at Dudley's perceived betrayal, according to an ambassador from Spain.
In 1578, Dudley later married Lettice, who had been widowed two years earlier. This was perhaps a reaction to the queen's reassertion that she would never marry, crushing Dudley's hopes of a wedding to his longtime love. After Dudley and Lettice were wed, the latter was banished from court. The queen herself allegedly called her a "she-wolf" and "bad woman." By all accounts, Lettice looked very much like Elizabeth.
- Photo:
- Photo:
- Unknown/LordMethven
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public Domain
Elizabeth Announced She Would Marry The Duc D'Anjou But Changed Her Mind Literally Overnight
One of Elizabeth's last serious considerations for a possible husband was Francois, Duc d'Anjou. In 1578, 10 years after the Netherlands revolted against Spain, Elizabeth was looking to find ways to continue her support to the Protestant cause but also wanted to prevent France from taking the Netherlands as their own in the aftermath. One option was to bring France into a matrimonial agreement that would prevent them from intervening, so she sought a marriage to Francois, brother to French King Henry III.
Elizabeth reached out to Francois and negotiations were conducted between the late 1570s and early 1580s. Elizabeth was in her 40s. Francois was only 23 years old, but he visited London at least twice in order to win over the queen. They exchanged letters for years and there seems to have been affection between them. She called him her "frog" - testament to his Frenchness - but there was resistance within England for her to marry a Catholic outsider.
When Francois visited London in 1581, Elizabeth met with her future husband and declared publicly that she would marry him. She gave him her ring, kissed him on the mouth, and gave every indication that she would finally go through with a betrothal. The next day, however, after apparently having second thoughts, she made another announcement - that the marriage would not take place.
- Photo:
- Photo:
- Levina Teerlinc
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public Domain
Elizabeth Demanded Her Attendants Put Her Before Motherhood
When it came to Elizabeth I and her ladies-in-waiting, the queen insisted they put her needs over theirs, even if they were pregnant or had just given birth. The role of the mother in 16th- and 17th-century England was challenged by Elizabeth, who required pregnant women in her service to stay with her until they no longer could and to return to her as soon as possible after giving birth.
Wet nurses and governesses existed for a reason and Elizabeth made sure her ladies used them. This actually gave her ladies more autonomy than most mothers at the time and rejected the veneration of wife and mothers above all others.
- Photo:
- Photo:
- Antonis Mor
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public Domain
Elizabeth Pretended To Consider Marrying Phillip II Of Spain Just To Negotiate A Peace Treaty
Elizabeth's former brother-in-law, Philip II of Spain, proposed to her in 1559. When Philip was married to Elizabeth's sister, Queen Mary, in 1554, the Catholic alliance between the two countries unified the two kingdoms in combating Protestantism in Europe; however, the marriage never produced an heir. Philip was over a decade younger than his bride and spent very little time in England while Mary was desperate for her husband's affection and for a child but was prone to phantom pregnancies.
Mary passed away in 1558, at which time her Protestant sister Elizabeth became queen of England. This precarious situation left Spain vulnerable. Philip, who in 1555 became king of Spain, the Netherlands, and all of Spain's holdings in Italy and the Americas, wanted to remain close to England. Philip asked Elizabeth to marry him, hoping to bring her into the Catholic fold while simultaneously forming an alliance against France, and she took her time considering his offer. She used the possibility of an alliance with Spain to negotiate a peace treaty with France and to keep Catholics in England pacified long enough to move forward with her religious reforms. Ultimately, she refused his proposal, arguing that she could not marry her sister's widower nor could she return England to Catholicism.
- Photo:
- Photo:
- Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public Domain
She Entertained A Proposal From Charles Of Austria To Placate Parliament
The issue of succession was always a concern when it came to Elizabeth and her unmarried status. Parliament was particularly concerned that Elizabeth did not have an heir and, upon her passing, the throne would be in the hands of her Scottish kinsman, James. As a result of the pressure Parliament, European leaders, and society put on her, the queen did her best to consider - or at least pretend to consider - marriage proposals when they arrived.
One of the many proposals she received came from Archduke Charles of Austria in 1563. She even sent negotiators to Vienna to discuss a marriage agreement after both the House of Lords and the House of Commons entreated her to marry him. Elizabeth's men reported back to her that Charles was not deformed - she'd heard from French diplomats seeking to undercut the alliance that he was - but that he wanted her to pay his expenses and provide her own dowry. Elizabeth considered the demands, but once Charles demanded to be king of England, she rejected the match. The whole process lasted three years, and when all was said and done, one of Charles of Austria's negotiators commented that the queen was so cunning and difficult that she "must have a hundred thousand devils in her body."
- Photo:
- Photo:
Elizabeth Announced On Numerous Occasions That She Would Never Marry
Elizabeth supposedly told Robert Dudley when she was just 8 years old that she would never get married. She had just seen her third step-mother, Catherine Howard, executed. Given that and what had happened to her mother, Anne Boleyn - the "whore" who brought about the end of her father's first marriage and led to a break with the Catholic Church - Elizabeth probably didn't have a lot of warm feelings toward the institution. Her own legitimacy was canceled out after her mother's passing, again skewing her views on marriage and family.
Elizabeth was surrounded by marriages that were political in nature, strategic, and managed through manipulation and fatality. The continued pressure she felt to get married - before becoming queen and most definitely after she took the throne - led to her playing the game, entering into marriage discussions on numerous occasions, but she most likely intended to stand by her earlier assertion. In 1559, she told Parliament that her mind was made up and famously announced that she was, in fact, married to England:
Concerning Marriage, which ye so earnestly move me to, I have been long since perswaded, that I was sent into this world by God to think and doe those things chiefly which may tend to his Glory. Hereupon have I chosen that kind of life which is most free from the troublesome Cares of this world, that I might attend the Service of God alone. From which if either the tendred Marriages of most Potent Princes, or the danger of Death intended against me, could have removed me, I had long agone enjoyed the honour of an Husband. And these things have I thought upon when I was a private person. But now that the publick Care of governing the Kingdom is laid upon me, to draw upon me also the Cares of Marriage may seem a point of inconsiderate Folly. Yea, to satisfie you, I have already joyned my self in Marriage to an Husband, namely, the Kingdom of England.
- Photo:
- Domenicus Verwilt
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public Domain
Prince Eric Of Sweden Tried To Woo The Queen
Elizabeth wasn't afraid to drag out proposals and use marriage as a political tool, but when Eric of Sweden proposed, it was a bit different. Eric, who would become King Eric XIV in 1560, pursued Elizabeth for years, even before she was queen. He sent her love letters and at one point attempted to marry her using his brother as a proxy groom.
Finally, in 1560, Elizabeth decided that she could no longer mince words with Eric and wrote him a letter indicating her true intentions. She wrote:
We therefore beg your Serene Highness again and again that you be pleased to set a limit to your love, that it advance not beyond the laws of friendship for the present nor disregard them in future.
Eric abandoned his efforts, slowly lost his mind, and was deposed in 1586.
- Photo:
- Photo:
- Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public Domain
Elizabeth's Last Suitor Was Executed For Treason
Robert Devereux, the second Earl of Essex, and Elizabeth I started their flirtation relatively late in the queen's life but his position in her heart seems to have been secure. As the son of Robert Dudley's wife, Lettice Knollys, and her first husband, Robert Devereux was more than 30 years younger than the queen. He was first noticed by Elizabeth in 1584 when his step-father brought him to court and, despite his youth, rash nature, and open defiance of the queen at times, the two seemed to love each other dearly. According to one of Devereux's attendants, "even at night my lord is at cards or one game or another with her, that he cometh not to his own lodging till the birds sing in the morning."
Devereux did not meet a good end, however. In 1589, he participated in the English Armada - an effort by England to use the momentum of the failed Spanish Armada to their advantage. He did this in spite of the queen's orders that he avoid the conflict. This annoyed the queen, but she became truly furious with him when he married Frances Walsingham in 1590.
His disobedience and lust for power ultimately led to his demise. In 1601, he was connected to a coup against the queen, convicted of treason, and beheaded in London. Elizabeth granted him one last gift, however, by commuting his sentence from hanging, drawing, and quartering to a quick beheading.
- Photo:
- Photo:
- The White Queen
- BBC One
Want More Historical Royals?
While some historical rulers seem like characters out of a gallant fairy tale, most of them come off as dangerously extra. To live under these madcap monarchs and curious queens would have been the eponymous "worst of times" - but reading about them from the safety of the 21st century is undeniably entertaining. If you want more content of monarchs behaving badly - and occasionally for the greater good - check out these books, films, and other media.
The Three Emperors. For those interested in both monarchies and world history, this book examines the lives of Kaiser Wilhelm II, George V, and Tsar Nicholas II, and how their reigns shaped and were impacted by World War I.
Horrible Histories: Cruel Kings & Mean Queens. This is an all-ages recommendation, but if you want educational entertainment, you really can't do better than the Horrible Histories series. It has spawned a mega-franchise of live-action and animated shows, but the books were where it all began, and they offer history through a comedic but factual lens.
Based on the historical novels of Philippa Gregory, The White Queen miniseries depicts the Wars of the Roses through the eyes of the women who operated behind the scenes: Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret Beaufort, and Anne Neville.
For those who enjoy the sexy danger of Game of Thrones, but with a dash more historical truth involved, both The Tudors (centering on King Henry VIII) and Versailles (King Louis XIV) come highly recommended. Each series offers plenty of glossy drama to go along with the true events.
For further reading, Ranker's editors have selected the following lists that provide even more fun, bizarre, and surprising facts about ancient rulers:
- Photo:
