Elizabeth I's most intimate gift from Robert Dudley hiding in plain sight?
at Kenilworth Castle
Has this gift to Elizabeth I from Robert Dudley been hiding in plain sight?
When Elizabeth I visited the home of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, in July 1575 it was the fourth, and last, time her favourite subject would host her at the ancient royal palace of Kenilworth in Warwickshire. Leicester had gone to extreme expense to impress his queen.
This was not just a courtier wishing to gain favour however, Leicester was about to propose marriage!
Robert Dudley had been by Elizabeth’s side for her entire reign and, though it is widely accepted that they loved each other, historians disagree about how far their physical relationship went. There was strong opposition to any potential match between the pair within Elizabeth’s council. Robert was not of sufficient rank (he was Earl of Leicester but only after Elizabeth made him so in 1564 ahead of suggesting him, bizarrely, as a potential husband for her cousin in Scotland, Mary Queen of Scots) and, as an Englishman, he could bring no useful foreign alliance. He would also outrank every other member of the Queen’s council if he were to marry the queen; there were personal as well as national considerations playing in their minds.
The suspicious death of Robert’s first wife Amy Robsart in 1560 played into the hands of his opponents. Rumours spread that Amy had been murdered and that her husband had been complicit, wishing his wife out of the way so that he could marry Elizabeth.
Although his involvement in her death was never proven beyond rumour, it has been widely argued by historians that the threat of being implicated in such a plot meant that Elizabeth could no longer consider a marriage to Robert, if indeed she ever had seriously done so in the first place. He seems to have felt very differently because despite all of this, her visit in 1575 was an elaborate and lavish marriage proposal.
In anticipation of Elizabeth’s stay, Leicester planned a series of elaborate entertainments, hunting expeditions and even commissioned full length portraits of the would-be-couple in the manner of a husband and wife. Most famously he built Elizabeth her own apartments and created a garden for her private use during her stay.
A victim of the civil war, this once grand castle is now in ruin however it is still possible to catch a glimpse of a castle made fit for a Queen! When the order to slight the castle was given by an Act of Parliament in 1649 the actual job was overseen by Colonel Joseph Hawkesworth. Large parts of the curtain wall and the north side of the great tower were demolished. Hawkesworth, however, was owed a large amount of money in unpaid wages. The new regime, unable to honour his backpay, granted the castle to him and he set about converting the Gatehouse into a comfortable residence for him and his family. Although the residential parts of the castle had not been dismantled during the slighting, (by virtue of petitioning from Henry Carey, 2nd Earl of Monmouth) they were quickly ruined and made roofless by the pilfering of building materials. Fixtures and fittings were used in the homes of anyone who could get hold of them…including Joseph Hawkesworth.
The Gatehouse which Hawkesworth made so comfortable for him and his family is now known as ‘Leicester’s Gatehouse’. You enter it through a relocated archway and porch which bears the initials ‘R’ ‘L’ for ‘Robert Leicester,’ and the date 1571. The most impressive room inside is the ‘south room’ in which a gleaming white alabaster fireplace dominates, perhaps to the detriment of the other pieces liberated from the royal apartments. One in particular, I will argue could be of even more significance and importance.
Before I reveal what this piece is I will spend a few moments on the fireplace as it is more than worthy of our attention.
Possibly fitted in Elizabeth’s apartments, this is not just an elaborate decorative piece, it is packed with messages from her wannabe suitor.
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