Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy
Banned
the Britannica 2008 article on Elizabeth I said:Elizabeth's resistance to a marriage she herself seemed to desire may have been politically motivated, for Leicester had many enemies at court and an unsavory reputation in the country at large. But in October 1562 the queen nearly died of smallpox, and, faced with the real possibility of a contested succession and a civil war, even rival factions were likely to have countenanced the marriage.
"Leicester" being Sir Robert Dudley, made Earl of Leicester 2 years later. WI the disease had killed her?