Free Elizabeth by Philippa Jones

child

Introduction
Robert Dudley’s Alleged Child

    T hroughout Elizabeth’s long reign, the question of her heir was a matter of great concern and the cause of consternation both at home and abroad among her various Councillors, Europe’s royalty and aristocracy and her own favourites. Who would the Queen marry? And, if she failed to marry, who would be the next King or Queen of England?
    Elizabeth, with characteristic stubbornness, resisted all attempts to marry or to name an heir. Even more frustratingly, over the years she wavered between steadfastly refusing to consider marriage and encouraging various members of the European royalty to pursue her, only to change her mind. Meanwhile, her Council feared that she would marry one of her favourites, Robert Dudley, for many years the most likely candidate. In the end, however, Elizabeth remained unmarried to the last, the Virgin Queen of legend.
    For the first part of her reign, though, it seemed likely that Elizabeth would marry at some point and give birth to a legitimate heir. Why she chose not to do so is a matter of conjecture and has been the subject of a great many books, plays and films. One of the questions frequently raised is whether or not Elizabeth was able to have children. There certainly seems to be no firm evidence to support the idea that Elizabeth was incapable of conceiving. Indeed, throughout her life – even before she was Queen – there were rumours that she had had sexual liaisons with men such as Thomas Seymour and later Robert Dudley, and had given birth to an illegitimate child – possibly even children . Yet, if the rumours were true, why did she keep any child secret? It would not have been unprecedented for Elizabeth to disclose the existence of a child and for that child to be accepted as her heir. In 1571, her ministers even changed the wording of the Act of Succession, which had stated that the throne should go to the ‘issue of her body lawfully to be begotten’ to read ‘the natural issue of her body’. This meant that any child whom the Queen acknowledged as her own, even one born outside wedlock, could potentially become the future King or Queen of England.
    This decision no doubt resulted from the rumours at the time that Elizabeth had conceived a child with her favourite Robert Dudley during their inseparable years at Court when both were in their twenties or early thirties. In the same way as the child Elizabeth was reported to have had with Thomas Seymour, it could have been born in secret and placed with suitable foster parents.
    But if this were the case, who would be the most likely candidate to be the offspring of Elizabeth and Robert? Looking at the evidence, four men stand out as possible contenders: Francis Bacon (1561–1626), Arthur Dudley (1561–?), John Harington (1560–1612) and Robert Devereux (1566–1601).

10
The Case of Sir Francis Bacon

    A ccording to the records of the time, Francis Bacon was born on 22 January 1561 at York House on the Strand in London, to Sir Nicholas Bacon and his second wife, Anne Cooke.
    Sir Nicholas had graduated from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and entered Gray’s Inn (one of the Inns of Court); he was called to the Bar in 1533. During the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, Sir Nicholas acquired several estates, including Gorhambury near St Albans, which became the family seat. He held several posts under Edward VI, as Member of Parliament, Attorney of the Court of Wards and Liveries, and Treasurer of Gray’s Inn. He was a highly skilled lawyer and a brilliant speaker. During the reign of Mary I, he lost his posts as he was a staunch Protestant, only to resume his career on the succession of Elizabeth I. The Queen immediately appointed him Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, a post in which he worked closely with his brother-in-law, William Cecil (they had married two of the learned and intelligent daughters of Sir Anthony Cooke). Francis was the youngest of all