Page "Elizabeth I of England" Paragraph 29

In the spring of 1559 it became evident that Elizabeth was in love with her childhood friend Robert Dudley.

It was said that Amy Robsart, his wife, was suffering from a " malady in one of her breasts ", and that the Queen would like to marry Dudley if his wife should die.

By the autumn of 1559 several foreign suitors were vying for Elizabeth's hand ; their impatient envoys engaged in ever more scandalous talk and reported that a marriage with her favourite was not welcome in England: " There is not a man who does not cry out on him and her with indignation ... she will marry none but the favoured Robert ".

Amy Dudley died in September 1560 from a fall from a flight of stairs and, despite the coroner's inquest finding of accident, many people suspected Dudley to have arranged her death so that he could marry the queen.

Elizabeth seriously considered marrying Dudley for some time.

However, William Cecil, Nicholas Throckmorton, and some conservative peers made their disapproval unmistakably clear.

There were even rumours that the nobility would rise if the marriage took place.