Sorry for teasing in the first post - though I love the Spy that Shaggeth me idea!
Chapter Two:
The Queen's husband
What finally brought Elizabeth Tudor to the point of marriage has been heavily debated given her apparent early reluctance following her accession.
She had turned down a proposal from her sister's widower but throughout 1559 she seemed to entertain the possibility of his cousin Archduke Charles - though by the end of 1559 it seemed the Queen had got cold feet about that offer.
To most of her court and to the gossips at courts across Europe it was clear the Queen would prefer, given a free choice, to marry her favourite Lord Robert Dudley were he free to do so.
Events would conspire against that hope.
Elizabeth reluctantly had provided troops to support the Lords of the Congregation against the French troops of the Scots Regent Marie of Guise. By July 1560 Marie was dead and negotiations for peace and the withdrawal of French troops from Scotland were underway.
It was during these discussions that an old candidate for the English Queen's hand was again mentioned.
The English negotiators were happy to consent though Cecil and Nicholas Wotton the dean of York and Canterbury both had little hope the Queen would agree.
The would-be groom was James Hamilton, the eldest son of Mary Stuart's former regent, the Earl of Arran - he was Protestant and more importantly had along with his father joined those opposed to the late Marie of Guise and the Franco-Scots Alliance.
He had another advantage if Mary Stuart died without issue then Lord James was second in line to the Scots throne after his father.
The match had been mooted almost twenty years earlier during Henry VIII's attempts to marry Mary to his son Edward but had failed after Hamilton's father switched to the pro-French side.
Now it was written into the treaty of Edinburgh - Elizabeth was technically betrothed to the surprise of most of her courtiers and perhaps herself.
Her favourite Robert Dudley remained confident there would be no wedding apparantly laughing loudly when the Spanish Ambassador offered him his condolences on the Queen's betrothal.
So unbelieving in fact were most that the ambassador told his master the Queen was not enamoured of the match and it would not happen.
Another person keen to avoid the match was Mary Stuart herself. She had refused to ratify the treaty which also recognised Elizabeth as Queen of England.
Mary wrote in angry and dismissive terms to Arran and his son - reminding them as her subjects they had no authority to make such a match and she would not give consent.
However the Scots Parliament which was busy severing Scotlands links to Rome was more than keen to ensure the match moved forward and passed assent for the marriage in mid-August.
For the English the match had obvious advantages it helped curbed French ambition in Scotland, he was not Elizabeth's subject but equally he was not of high enough birth to threaten her, he was equally not too foreign to offend her subjects, if Elizabeth was married and an heir on the way it stopped the ambitions of Mary and her Guise relations to the English throne and it would meet with Spain's approval (not as much as a match with a Catholic chosen by Philip II but at least it was anti-French).
Elizabeth and James had met a year earlier when her agents helped him back to Scotland after he fled France.
At the time there was little evidence of any great attraction and some had even suggested a match with The Queen's cousin and closest English heir, Lady Catherine Grey, would be a better option.
The Queen in July and Auugst made little comment on the match though she accepted the agreements reached with the Scots and the French but many including her secretary William Cecil remained convinced they could never bring the Queen to the altar.
However, in early September Lady Robert Dudley died in unusual circumstances and the Queen was suddenly caught up in a flood of suspicion both at home and abroad.
Even Dudley's departure from court could not completely remove the air of suspicion that Lady Robert had been murdered to enable her husband to marry the Queen - more dangerously it was even suggested Dudley had already bedded the Queen to ensure his plans to marry her would come to pass.
Under great pressure from a council fearful she might marry her widowed favourite - the Queen indicated her renewed interest in the "Scots match".
Later the same month rumours also arrived from France that Mary of Scots was with child (falsely as it would turn out).
The pressure on Elizabeth through September and early October was now intense - the Queen, Cecil reported was torn between conflicting emotions - on one side was her unnatural (to him) determination to remain unwed on the other was her supposed passion for Dudley.
The council had also threatened her that any match with Dudley would meet with fury and rebellion, that if Mary of Scots bore a child it would give hope to Catholic's unhappy with Elizabeth's Protestant settlement - again leading to dissension and unhappiness across the realm.
Their warnings and threats were met with raging tempers and heated discourse from the Queen.
On October 4 Cecil met again with the Queen and she gave her reluctant consent to allow the Scots' Lord to travel to her court - for she would not agree the marriage without seeing him again for herself.
Lord James travelled south under heavy escort arriving in London in late October.
The Scots Lord was soon seen entertaining the Queen and was liberal with gifts to many at court in anticipation of his marriage but courtiers were still doubtful.
The news soon reached France where an angry Queen Mary wrote to Elizabeth urging her against such an "unseemly match" with a mere Scots subject. Nicholas Throckmorten apparently said he would ever be grateful for the letter - delighted the Queen of Scots had used such little tact - as telling the Queen she shouldn't do something was usually a guarantee of a temper tantrum and that she would do exactly what she had been warned against.
On November 20th 1560 The Queen created Hamilton "out of great love and respect" Duke of Richmond entailed unto the "heires males" of his body with precedence over all other peers. A royal title closely associated with the Tudors made it clear to all - the Queen would finally marry.
The council and Parliament were keen but the marriage agreement reached in late November made it clear Elizabeth did not intend to allow any husband power and authority- he was forbidden to remove the Queen or any children from England without the Queen, the council and Parliament's consent, he was denied the title of King and any rights to succeed the Queen. He would receive an income at the "Queen's pleasure" to maintain his household and estate.
The couple were married on the 13th December and if the Queen appeared slighltly less enthusiastic it might be the news that Mary of Scots' husband King Francis II had died a few days earlier - removing a significant threat and a large reason for her marriage.
Lord Robert Dudley is reputed to have told the Spanish Ambassador that had Francis died a week or so earlier the marriage would never have happened.
But the deed was done - Elizabeth was married.