Elizabeth & Leicester

by SarahGristwood (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2007

  $3.25

  Few relationships fire our imagination like that of Elizabeth I and her 'bonnie sweet Robin' - the Earl of Leicester, Robert Dudley. But it has been almost half a century since any book set out specifically to examine and disentangle the emotive, often contradictory facts about their lifelong love. They both grew up amid the palaces and plots of Henry VIII's court; they were both imprisoned in the Tower of London by Elizabeth's sister, Mary. Soon after Elizabeth was queen came the scandalised letters from ambassadors of her infatuation with the married Robert Dudley - to be followed a mere two years later by the suspicious death of his wife Amy. Speculation ran for years that Elizabeth and Robert in their turn would marry. Instead, they developed a working partnership, and - an even more extraordinary intimacy - a bond of mutual dependence and affection. By the time Robert died he had been Elizabeth's councillor and commander of her army, sat by her bed in sickness and represented her on state occasions. But she had also humiliated him, made him dance attendance on her other suitors and tried to have him clapped in prison when finally he broke loose and married again. Elizabeth & Leicester is a portrait - at times a startlingly intimate one - of two people who forged their age; of a relationship where, very unusually, a woman held all the power; of an edgy yet enduring love that still speaks to us today.

• Used

  Paperback
  2008

  $3.25

  Few relationships fire our imagination like that of Elizabeth I and her 'bonnie sweet Robin' - the Earl of Leicester, Robert Dudley. Almost immediately after she became queen, Elizabeth's infatuation with the married Earl became the subject of letters from scandalized ambassadors. And when Dudley's wife, Amy, died a mere two years later under suspicious circumstances many speculated that Elizabeth and Robert would marry. They never did, although by the time Robert died he had been Elizabeth's councillor and commander of her army, had sat by her bed in sickness and represented her on state occasions.But she had also humiliated him, made him dance attendance on her other suitors, and tried to have him clapped in prison when he finally broke loose and married again. Elizabeth and Leicester is a portrait - at times a startlingly intimate one - of the tie between two of the people who forced their age; of a relationship where, unusually, a woman held all the power; of an edgy yet enduring love that still speaks to us today.