Philippa Gregory: The Virgin's Lover

Why Elizabeth and Cecil should do such a thing we cannot know. I don’t believe that either of them blurted out the truth by accident, to the man most likely to circulate such scandal. I suggest that it was Elizabeth and Cecil’s plan to smear Dudley with the crime of wife-murder.

Certainly the shadow of guilt was effective in preventing Robert from attaining the throne. In 1566 William Cecil wrote a six-point memorandum to the Privy Council listing the reasons that Robert Dudley could not marry the queen: “IV. He is infamed by the death of his wife.”

Were Elizabeth and Robert full lovers? Perhaps in these more permissive days we can say that it hardly matters. What does matter is that she loved him all her life, and despite his later marriage to Laetitia Knollys (another Boleyn redhead) he undoubtedly loved her. His last letter was to Elizabeth, telling her of his love, and when she died it was with his letter by her bedside.

This is a short list of the books that helped my research for this novel. Adlard, George. Amye Robsart and the Earl of Leicester, 1870 Bartlett, A. D. An Historical Account of Cumnor Place, 1850 Brigden, Susan. New Worlds, Lost Worlds: The Rule of the Tudors: 1485–1603, 2000 Clarke, John. Palaces and Parks of Richmond and Kew, 1995. Cressy, David. Birth, Marriage and Death: Ritual, Religions and the Life Cycle in Tudor and Stuart England, 1977. Darby,H.C. A New Historical Geography of England Before 1600, 1976. Doran, Susan. Monarchy and Matrimony: The Courtships of Elizabeth I, 1996. Dovey, Zillah. An Elizabethan Progress, 1996. Dunn, Jane. Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens, 2003. Dunlop, Ian. Palaces and Progresses of Elizabeth I, 1962. Evans, R. J. W. St. Michael’s Church, Cumnor: A Guide, 2003 Frere, Sir Bartle. Amy Robsart of Wymondham, 1937. Grierson, Francis. “An Elizabethan Enigma,” Contemporary Review, August 1960. Guy, John. Tudor England, 1988. Haynes, Alan. The White Bear: Robert Dudley, the Elizabethan Earl of Leicester, 1987. ———. Invisible Power: The Elizabethan Secret Services 1570–1603, 1992. ———. Sex in Elizabethan England, 1997.Hibbert, Christopher. The Virgin Queen, 1992. Hume, Martin A. S. The Courtships of Queen Elizabeth, 1898. Jackson, Revd. Canon. “Amye Robsart,” The Nineteenth Century, A Monthly Review, ed. James Knowles, March 1882, no 61. Jenkins, Elizabeth. Elizabeth and Leicester, 1961. Loades, David. The Tudor Court, 1986. Milton, Giles. Big Chief Elizabeth, 2000. Neale, J. E. Queen Elizabeth, 1934. Picard, Liza. Elizabeth’s London, 2003. Pettigrew, T. J. An Inquiry Concerning the Death of Amy Robsart, 1859. Plowden, Alison. The Young Elizabeth, 1999.———. Elizabeth: Marriage with My Kingdom, 1999.———. Tudor Women: Queens and Commoners, 1998. Read, Conyers. Mr. Secretary Cecil and Queen Elizabeth, 1955. Ridley, Jasper. Elizabeth I, 1987. Rye, Walter. The Murder of Amy Robsart, A Brief for the Prosecution, 1885. Sidney, Philip. Who Killed Amy Robsart? 1901. Somerset, Anne. Elizabeth I, 1997. Starkey, David. Elizabeth, 2001. Strong, Roy. The Cult of Elizabeth, 1999. Turner, Robert. Elizabethan Magic: The Art and the Magus, 1989. Waldman, Milton. Elizabeth and Leicester, 1944. Walker, Julia M., ed. Dissing Elizabeth: Negative Representations of Gloriana, 1998. Weir, Alison. Children of England, 1997. ———. Elizabeth the Queen, 1999. Wilson, Derek A. Sweet Robin: A Biography of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, 1533–1588, 1981. Yaxley, Susan. Amy Robsart, Wife of Robert Dudley, 1532–1560, 1996.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PHILIPPA GREGORY is the author of several novels, including The Other Boleyn Girl and The Queen’s Fool . Wideacre, her debut, was a New York Times bestseller and the first in a trilogy that included The Favored Child and Meridon . A writer and broadcaster for radio and television, she lives in England.

For further information about this and any of Philippa Gregory’s other books, and on forthcoming appearances, reviews, and unpublished material, please visit her website at www.philippagregory.com.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

The Queen’s Fool

The Other Boleyn Girl

Meridon

The Favored Child

Wideacre

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2004 by Philippa Gregory Limited

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gregory, Philippa.The virgin’s lover / Philippa Gregory. p. cm.“A Touchstone book.” 1. Dudley, Amy Robsart, Lady, 1532?–1560—Fiction. 2. Leicester, Robert Dudley, Earl of, 1532?–1588—Fiction. 3. Great Britain— History—Elizabeth, 1558–1603—Fiction. 4. Burghley, William Cecil, Baron, 1520–1598—Fiction. 5. Elizabeth I, Queen of England, 1533–1603—Fiction. 6. Favorites, Royal—Fiction. 7. Murder victims— Fiction. I. Title.PR6057.R386V574 2004 823'.914—dc22 2004056468

ISBN 0-7432-7534-9

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