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Home / People / Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

Historical person

Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

1532–1588

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, was Elizabeth I’s childhood friend, favourite and one of the most powerful men of her reign. The mysterious death of his wife Amy Robsart in 1560 made marriage to the queen politically impossible, though rumours persisted. Dudley served as patron, privy councillor and commander in the Netherlands, where his acceptance of the governor-generalship angered Elizabeth. He remained close to her until his death in 1588.

Philippa Gregory’s The Virgin’s Lover centres on Elizabeth, Dudley and Amy Robsart, while Ken Follett’s A Column of Fire includes him within court and religious politics. Historical fiction often turns the relationship into a frustrated romance. It can understate Dudley’s substantial roles in military affairs, patronage, education and Protestant policy.

In non-fiction, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester is discussed in Paul Doherty’s The Secret Life of Elizabeth I. Paul Doherty’s The Secret Life of Elizabeth I approaches the subject through court politics and dynastic power, crime, espionage and covert power, and political ambition and government.

Series

Series featuring Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (4 series)

The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels in Order

by Philippa Gregory 16 books 4.4

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…

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The Tudor Saga in Order

by David Field 6 books 4.3

The Tudor Saga recounts the dynasty from Henry VII’s exile and victory in the Wars of the Roses to the final years of Elizabeth I. Historical rulers, ministers and royal relatives occupy the centre of the sequence, while fictional attendants and agents reveal how decisions at court affect…

All books in this series

Tudor Saga in Order

by Jean Plaidy 11 books 4.0

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

A Queens of England Novel in Order

by Jean Plaidy 11 books 3.9

The Queens of England novels dramatise the lives of royal women from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Queen Victoria. Each volume concentrates on a queen, consort or claimant whose marriages, loyalties and private ambitions were inseparable from dynastic politics, religious conflict and the exercise of monarchy.

All books in this series

Standalone books

Standalone books featuring Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (2 books)

Non Fiction

Non Fiction featuring Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (1 book)

Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.