Elizabeth & Leicester
Sarah Gristwood's Account of Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley
Sarah Gristwood chronicles the relationship between Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley, a romance that has intrigued historians for centuries.
Of all the monarchs of England, it is arguably Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen, who is viewed with the greatest esteem, no small achievement for someone whose reign was initially seen by many as an affront to God.
Elizabeth was a great self-publicist and it was actions such as the standardising of her portrait that make her as instantly recognisable today as she was four centuries ago. However, it is perhaps for her less tangible characteristics, the character that has been attributed to her throughout history, that Elizabeth I is held dear. Elizabeth was said to be married to her country and it is this idea of purity and devotion that is her most revered legacy.
Elizabeth & Leicester
Of course, Elizabeth did not spend her entire life dealing with matters of State and in Elizabeth and Leicester Sarah Gristwood examines Elizabeth’s most significant relationship, that which she shared with her chief favourite Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester.
Speculation about the private life of Elizabeth I was as popular during her lifetime as it is today. Indeed, Gristwood quotes Henry IV of France as remarking that the subject of Elizabeth’s virginity was one of the three questions that all of Europe wanted the answer to. The mind boggles as to what the other two vital questions plaguing Europe might have been.
Rumours about the relationship between Elizabeth and Robert Dudley abounded at the very beginning of Elizabeth’s reign when one of her first appointments was that of making Dudley her Master of Horse. Dudley was married during these early years and conspiracy theorists have long pondered what role, if any, that he and Elizabeth had in the untimely death of his wife.
Gristwood considers all of the alternatives that have been offered but does make it clear that she does not believe Dudley or Elizabeth to be culpable in the death of Amy Dudley. She suggests, albeit without much conviction, that the only person who gained any real benefit from the death was Elizabeth’s chief advisor, William Cecil.
A Character Rehabilitated
The most successful aspect of Elizabeth and Leicester is the re-examination that Gristwood gives to the character of Robert Dudley. It has been many years since serious academic consideration was given to the relationship between Elizabeth and Dudley and he has all too often been mislabelled by history as something of a dandy, an ultimate courtier who occasionally liked to dabble in politics or play at soldering.
Gristwood portrays Robert Dudley as a trusted councillor to Elizabeth. As well as being a skilled politician who was often tasked with dealing with foreign ambassadors, Dudley was a highly educated man, a committed champion of Protestantism, a skilled soldier, a noted philanthropist and, perhaps most importantly, a fiercely loyal subject.
Through painstaking research, Gristwood is also able to illuminate some of the lesser known events from Dudley’s political career, such as his being offered as a potential husband to Mary, Queen of Scots or his attempts to negotiate a French marriage for Elizabeth.
A Private History
The problem with the examination of any private relationship is that it is by definition private and Gristwood acknowledges that conclusive proof as to the true nature of the relationship between Elizabeth and Dudley is unlikely to be found. She does, however, provide a fascinating analysis of that information which is available and offers her own measured interpretations of the facts.
Elizabeth and Leicester is a prime example of the wisdom of that old adage “Never judge a book by its cover”. Although the photograph on the front cover seems to suggest something of a bodice-ripper or perhaps a story from the likes of Philippa Gregory, Elizabeth and Leicester is a great piece of scholarship and provides much needed insight into the characters of Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley, two people who did so much to shape Tudor history.
Elizabeth and Leicester by Sarah Gristwood
ISBN 978-0553817867, Bantam Books Ltd, 2008, £6.99, pp528
