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Historical person

Amy Robsart

1532–1560

Amy Robsart was the wife of Robert Dudley, later Earl of Leicester, and her death in 1560 became a major scandal at the Elizabethan court. Because Dudley was close to Elizabeth I, rumours surrounding Amy’s fall at Cumnor Place became politically dangerous and long-lived.

Amy Robsart was born in Norfolk and died in Cumnor. Her death after a fall down a staircase at Cumnor Place in 1560 generated immediate suspicion because her husband Robert Dudley was Elizabeth I’s favourite; no murder was proved, but the episode permanently complicated Dudley’s political reputation.

In Jean Plaidy’s Lord Robert, Torn between her heart’s passion and duty to her kingdom, a young queen makes a dark choice… Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester was the most powerful man in England during the reign of Elizabeth I. Handsome and clever, he drew the interest of many women—but it was Elizabeth herself that loved him best of all. Their relationship could have culminated in marriage but for the existence of Amy Robsart, Robert's tragic young wife, who stood between them and refused to be swept away to satisfy a monarch’s desire for a man that was not rightfully her own. In Philippa Gregory’s The Virgin’s Lover, Elizabeth I inherits a divided kingdom in 1558 and relies on William Cecil while restoring Protestant government. Her intimacy with Robert Dudley creates pressure for marriage, even though Dudley’s wife Amy Robsart remains alive. Amy’s isolation and unexplained death make the queen’s private attachment a national political crisis. In Alison Weir’s The Marriage Game, after becoming queen, Elizabeth I uses courtship as diplomacy while refusing to surrender authority to a husband. Her attachment to the married Robert Dudley fuels scandal, particularly after Amy Robsart’s unexplained death, while foreign princes and English councillors press for a secure succession.

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Amy Robsart (3 series)

The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels in Order

by Philippa Gregory 16 books 4.4(140,052)

The Plantagenet and Tudor novels form a chronological sequence of connected but independently readable stories about women near the English throne. They move from the Lancastrian court and the Wars of the Roses through the rise of the Tudors, Henry VIII’s marriages, the mid-Tudor religious crisis and the…

All books in this series

Tudor Saga in Order

by Jean Plaidy 11 books 4.0(23,392)

The Tudor Saga follows the dynasty from Henry VII’s insecure victory through the marriages of Henry VIII and the reigns of his children. The novels place queens, courtiers and claimants at the centre of religious change, diplomatic marriage and the succession crises that transformed sixteenth-century England.

All books in this series

Elizabeth I Novels in Order

by Alison Weir 2 books 4.0(28,832)

These two connected novels follow Elizabeth I from childhood to the end of her reign. The Lady Elizabeth portrays the insecurity, scandal and religious danger that formed the future queen, while The Marriage Game explores her rule through the long relationship with Robert Dudley and the political use…

All books in this series