LEICESTER, ROBERT Dyorry. Earl of (c.1532-88). A favorite of Queen Elizabeth. He was the fifth son of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, and received a very good edu cation. At an early age lie was taken to Court, where he met the Princess (later Queen) Eliza beth. In 1550 he was married publicly to Amy Robsart, and, as far as we know, lived happily with her. After the death of Edward VT. in 1553, Dudley aided in the attempt to place his sister in-law, Lady Jane Grey, on the throne, for which he was imprisoned in the Tower. On the accession of Elizabeth in 1558, Dudley rapidly advanced and became the Queen's fa vo•ite, and for a long time it was thought they would marry. Nevertheless. Elizabeth al lowed Dudley little or no influence in polit ical affairs. The intimacy between Elizabeth and Dudley gave rise to several rumors of a scandalous nature, and when in 1560 Lady Amy was found dead from a fall down a flight of stairs, the belief spread that she had been mur dered, though as a matter of fact it was prob ably an accident. Seott's Kenilworth is based on the popular rumors of the time. In 1563 it was suggested that Dudley should marry Mary, Queen of Scots, and he was made Earl of Leices ter: but in 1565 the Scottish Queen married Darnley. Meanwhile Leicester's future was
darkened by the fact that Elizabeth realized the impracticability of marrying him, for he was very unpopular and opposed by all the old no bility. In 1571 he married the widow of John, second Baron of Sheffield, hut afterwards refused to acknowledge her as his wife, and in 1578 mar ried Lettiee Knollys, Countess of Essex, at the news of which the Queen weS very anoTy. When in 1585 Elizabeth decided to aid the Netherlands in their struggle for independence from Spanish rule, Leicester received command of the expedi tion, and in the following year the States-General elected him Govel nor. His incapacity, however, soon showed forth glaringly. and he lost town after town, so that the Dutch were glad when in 1587 he was recalled. In 1588 Elizabeth ap pointed him commander of the forces assembled to oppose the Spanish invasion, but he died soon after, on September 4. 1588. Leicester was a shallow and vain man, the interest in whom is due almost entirely to his intimacy with the great English Queen. Consult Fronde, Ilistory of England from the Full of Wolsey to the Defeat of the ,Spani.sh Armada (12 2d ed., London, 1893).