STUART, ARABELLA ( 575-1615) , daughter of Charles Stuart, earl of Lennox, younger brother of Lord Darnley and of Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Cavendish and "Bess of Hard wick," was (by strict pedigree) next in succession to James VI. of Scotland to the thrones of England and Scotland, after Queen Elizabeth. She became the centre of the intrigues of those who refused to accept James as Elizabeth's successor. Suitors for her hand included Henry IV. of France, the earl of Northumberland, and Esme Stuart, duke of Lennox. In 1590 a scheme was formed of marrying her to Ranuccio, eldest son of the duke of Parma, who was descended from John of Gaunt, and of raising her with Spanish support to the throne. She was regarded with suspicion by Elizabeth and closely guarded at Hardwick by the dowager countess of Shrewsbury. In 1602 the queen's suspicions were in creased by the discovery of a plot to marry Arabella to Edward, eldest son of Lord Beauchamp, who as grandson of Edward Sey mour, earl of Hertford, and of Lady Catherine Grey, was heir to the throne after Elizabeth according to Henry VIII.'s will. According to other accounts the intended husband was Thomas Seymour, a younger son of the earl of Hertford. Arabella planned an escape from Hardwick with the aid of her chaplain Starkey, who after its failure committed suicide. In December she wrote secretly to Lord Hertford proposing her marriage with his grand son, but the latter immediately informed the council. In February 1603 another attempt at escape failed, and she was then transferred to the care of the earl of Kent at Wrest House. Arabella was re
ceived at the court of James I. and treated with favour, and she showed her fidelity to James by revealing a communication made to her by the conspirators in the Main and Bye Plots, in which her name had been used without her sanction. Every effort, how ever, was made to prevent her marriage. In December 1609 her plan to escape with Sir George Douglas to Scotland, apparently with a view of arranging a marriage with Stephen Bogdan, pre tender to Moldavia, was discovered, and she was arrested. She was, however, granted a pension of £1,60o a year by James. In 1610 she was married secretly in despite of the King's prohibition to William Seymour, younger brother of Edward, and grandson of Lord Hertford. They were imprisoned, Arabella at Lambeth and her husband in the Tower. In 1611 she was placed in charge of the bishop of Durham. She escaped on June 3, 1611, and suc ceeded in boarding a ship bound for Calais. Her husband had also effected his escape and was sailing towards the French coast. Ara bella was captured and brought back to the Tower, where she spent the rest of her unhappy career. She sank into melancholy, and, according to some accounts, insanity, and died on or about Sept. 25, 1615. She was buried in the tomb of Mary Queen of Scots in Henry VII.'s chapel in Westminster Abbey.
See also The Life and Letters of Arabella Stuart, by E. T. Bradley (1889), which supersedes the Life by E. Cooper (1866) ; and Lives by M. Lefuse (1913), and B. C. Bradley (1913).