The Untold Backstory of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester: Queen Elizabeth I’s Favorite
- Dorothea Dickerman
- Apr 8
- 5 min read
“O bosom black as death! O limed soul, that struggling to be free Art more engag’d!
Help, angels! Make assay, Bow, stubborn knees, and heart, with strings of steel,
Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe! All may be well.”
— Claudius, Hamlet, III, iii
Favorite Bad Boy of the Elizabethan Age
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, is my favorite bad boy of the Elizabethan Age – in fact, of the entire Tudor Age.
An opportunist nonpareil, a master weaver of secret plots, and a man whose ambitions knew no bounds, he orchestrated subtle threats and blatant offers others dared not refuse. The characters in my novels (still in draft—don’t get too excited yet!) know all too well that Leicester creates havoc in their lives. He lies, cheats, steals, seduces, double-crosses, poisons, murders, and intimidates.
Like Claudius in Hamlet, he occasionally retreats into remorse. But don’t be fooled—he will stop at nothing to seize power and wealth. It is never enough.
The throne of England ultimately eludes him, but not for lack of trying.
And yet . . . I like him.
Hell Hath No Fury Like Queen Elizabeth Scorned
I admire the way he twists a situation to his advantage, how he injects tension and scandal into already treacherous Elizabethan politics - not to mention how he leaves a trail of illegitimate children in other nobles’ bloodlines. At first, I saw Leicester as a pure villain, but he kept slipping out of that box. Like Loki, the cunning Norse god of mischief, Leicester is capable of transforming himself into a self-effacing, dependable, irresistible charmer.
Self-assured, wickedly smart, foresighted, brave, physically strong and dangerously handsome, he cut an envious swath through Elizabeth’s court ladies —all under the nose of his lover, the Queen. Most of the time, she was the last to know.
But when his secret affairs came to light, hell had no fury like Queen Elizabeth I scorned. However furiously she cursed at him or how long she banished him from her court, she always forgave him. He was as important to her as her “eyes”, which became his nickname. He even signed his letters to her with a little sketch of eyes.
Who and What Made Robert Dudley?
The number of secrets, scandals, and hidden plots buried in history’s pages about Elizabeth’s “sweet Robin” is so staggering that I became curious about what made him who he was. I went digging for answers and uncovered a startling pile of hidden motivations and personal secrets.
Behind his arrestingly intense eyes and his ever-present smile, I found a life that began and ended at the pinnacle of privilege but took a precipitous and sudden dive just as he reached his majority. Moreover, the number of untimely and violent deaths in his immediate family was excessive, even for Elizabethan times. He himself barely escaped the executioner’s ax.
While this relentless specter of death may explain the gambles he took and the ruthlessness with which he pursued power, whatever grief he carried did not soften his ambition. He eliminated noblemen who stood in his way, likely arranged the death of his own wife, and took what he wanted – whether plum positions, lands or women – all in the course of playing to win at the highest levels of court politics, while bedding and hoping to wed his monarch.
Fear and Survival: Robert Dudley Locked Inside the Tower
Before Elizabeth came to power and made him Earl of Leicester, Robert was the middle child in a privileged family of 13 children. At 21 he found himself imprisoned for high treason in the Tower of London, staring out of the wrong side of a barred window while his younger brother Guildford and his father John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland were beheaded for the same crime. His father’s vast fortune and power and the security they had provided vanished in an instant with his attainder – the metaphorical stain that spread itself over those condemned for high treason. Attainder resulted in loss of life, all property and all hereditary titles. It left the traitor’s children and spouse destitute.
In one gut-wrenching moment, while imprisoned in the Tower with his remaining brothers, Robert lost his noble status and became a commoner.
Their carefree lives as the sons of England’s richest and most powerful man had collapsed in nine days.
The Dudleys’ Rise and Fall: Power and Politics
Although not the first time, this rise and fall of the Dudleys had begun during the reign of Elizabeth’s half-brother, King Edward VI.
Here is how it unfolded:
By October 14, 1549, Edward Seymour, the self-appointed Lord Protector of the young king, found himself trapped. His captors? Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, and Robert’s father (then Earl of Warwick). They had conspired to overthrow Seymour and strip him of power. But power struggles are never simple.
Southampton, an “honored” and seasoned administrator, and Dudley, a brilliant military commander, soon turned on each other. The court whispered that John Dudley was “as ambitious and subtle as Alcibiades” and “the most unstable man in the realm”. By 1553, John Dudley had outmaneuvered his rivals Southampton and the Arundels, and successfully consolidated his power through strategic marriages of his children with the Seymours, the Sidneys, the Tailboys (related to Henry FitzRoy, Henry VIII’s illegitimate son), the Hastings, and the Greys. He had also gained the young king’s trust. Edward VI raised John to Duke of Northumberland (no doubt at John’s suggestion).
The Treason That Doomed the Dudleys: The Fatal Gamble on Lady Jane Grey
An earlier post in this blog, The Traitor William Cecil (https://www.dorotheadickerman.com/post/the-traitor-william-cecil), explored how in 1553 William Cecil, complicit as John Dudley’s fixer, became entangled in treason. The scheme culminated in John’s marrying Guildford Dudley to Lady Jane Grey, and convincing Edward to name her as his heir - a move that defied both English law and Henry VIII’s will.
Despite past triumphs, this time John Dudley’s gamble failed spectacularly. Backed by an army, Mary Tudor took the throne and ordered John and five of his six living sons—including Robert—dragged to the Tower. John was beheaded in August of 1553; Guildford and Lady Jane in February of 1554.
The result of this calamity? Robert spent the rest of his life clawing his way back from those terrifying months of being incarcerated as a commoner and a “nothing”. He never again felt secure enough to allow even the possibility exist that he would be that vulnerable.
Coming Next: The Dudley Dynasty
What happened to Robert Dudley during his 15 months in the Tower in daily fear of his life changed him forever. He emerged almost penniless into a world where his family name reeked of treason. Yet, he became the most powerful man in England.
In the next posts, we’ll explore more of Robert’s little-known darkest days and take a closer look at the family relationships that set his life’s course.
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