A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



in August, but left on the 2 6th by barge for West- 

 minster on their way to Greenwich." 6 Six days 

 later Philip returned to the Netherlands, and did 

 not rejoin his wife for two years. He and Mary 

 paid their last visit to the palace during his second 

 brief sojourn in England in June 1557, when 

 they came down with several members of the 

 council to hunt in the park, but it was only a fly- 

 ing visit, as the household was left at Whitehall. 376 



Though Hampton Court was not the scene of 

 any great historic events during the reign of Eliza- 

 beth, it was the background for many festivities. 3 " 

 Elizabeth inherited to the full the Tudor love of 

 splendid ceremonial and gorgeous pageantry. In 

 June 1559 Winchester 378 wrote to Cecil 379 that 

 he had made a survey of Hampton Court, and 

 pointed out the alterations and improvements that 

 he thought should be made for the queen. 'The 

 grounds,' he said, ' will be laid out with as many 

 pleasures as can be imagined.' 380 The queen 

 arrived there for the first time after her accession 

 on 10 August 1559, from Nonsuch. 381 



The question of Elizabeth's marriage was 

 already the cause of anxiety to her advisers. The 

 Earl of Arran, eldest son of the Duke of Chatel- 

 herault, 38 * was the suitor at this time most 

 favoured by Elizabeth and her Protestant advisers. 

 Arran was a fugitive from France, hiding in 

 Switzerland. He came over to England and con- 

 cealed himself at Cecil's house in the Strand. In 

 August he came to Hampton Court, crossed the 

 river secretly, and was brought by Cecil into the 

 ' Privy Gardens ' where a sort of clandestine in- 

 terview took place between him and the queen. 

 The romantic touch no doubt appealed to Eliza- 

 beth, but Arran did not please her personally, and 

 he returned to Scotland. 383 The meeting was 

 kept profoundly secret, though de Quadra, the 

 Spanish ambassador, discovered it. 38 ' The next 

 turn of the political wheel brought him a message 

 from the queen to say that she was disposed to 

 consider favourably a marriage with the Archduke 

 Charles, the son of the Emperor Ferdinand. De 

 Quadra hastened to Hampton Court, 385 and a 

 strange story was told him about a plot which had 

 been discovered to murder the queen and Lord 

 Robert Dudley, and put Mary Stuart on the 

 throne. 



It is necessary to mention here some of the 

 scandals about Elizabeth and Leicester. 



Many years after Elizabeth's death a man ap- 

 peared in Madrid who declared that he was their 

 son, and told a circumstantial story of his birth at 

 Hampton Court in 1562. ' He was,' he said, ' the 



reputed son of Robert Sotheron, once a servant 

 of Mrs. Ashley, of Evesham.' By order of Mrs. 

 Ashley, Sotheron went to Hampton Court, and 

 was told that Mrs. Ashley wished him to provide a 

 nurse for the child of a lady of the court, whose 

 honour the queen wished to preserve. ' Being 

 led into the gallery near the royal closet (? the 

 " Haunted Gallery ") he received the infant from 

 Mrs. Ashley, with directions to call it Arthur ; 

 entrusted it to the wife of the miller at Moul- 

 sey,' and afterwards conveyed it to his own 

 house. He treated the child as his own son, and 

 only on his death-bed revealed to the boy his real 

 parentage. 386 The old mill at East Molesey still 

 exists. The story is discussed at length, with all 

 the evidence, in Martin Hume's Courtships of 

 Queen ERzabeth, and dismissed as improbable. 

 ' Arthur Dudley ' was most likely only a carefully 

 coached spy. A curious story of the very familiar 

 terms on which Dudley and the queen were is 

 told by Randolph, writing to Sir William Throck- 

 morton. The queen was sitting in the dedans of 

 the tennis court at the palace, watching a game 

 between the Duke of Norfolk and Leicester, when 

 ' My lord Robert being verie hotte and swetinge 

 tooke the Quene's napken oute of her hande and 

 wyped his face, which the Duke seinge saide that 

 he was to sawcie, and swore yt he wolde laye his 

 racket upon his face. Here upon rose a great 

 troble, and the Queen oftendid sore with the 

 Duke.' It can hardly be said that he was more 

 courtly than Dudley. Nevertheless Elizabeth 

 understood when to let her favourite know ' that 

 there was only one mistress in England and no 

 master.' m 



The autumn of 1562 was a period of great 

 political anxiety in England, 388 and in October 

 Elizabeth lay ill at Hampton Court suffering from a 

 dangerous attack of smallpox. On the night of the 

 1 5th she was thought to be dying, and the council 

 came in haste to decide on measures to be taken in 

 the event of her death. Froude's description of 

 the scene, taken from the Simancas MS., is very 

 graphic. On recovering from a state of uncon- 

 sciousness that had lasted for hours, she found the 

 council gathered round her bed, waiting to hear 

 what she might say of the succession. Her first 

 thoughts appear to have been of Dudley, who she 

 begged might be made protector of the realm, 

 and she asked that provision might be made 

 for others of her relatives and attendants. This 

 probably took place in the room on the south side 

 of the palace, which still has Elizabeth's crown 

 and cipher over the window. The worst part of 



8 ' s Wriothesley, Chron. ii, 133. 



*>' Mjchyn's Diary (Camden Soc.), 

 139. 



8 7' Law, Hist. Hampton Court Palace, 

 i, 280. 



' 8 John Paulet, ist Marquis of Win- 

 chester, Lord Treasurer. 



f William Cecil, Chief Secretary 

 of State, afterwards Lord Burghley. 



" Cal.S.P. Dom. 1547-80, p. 131. 



881 Machyn't Diary (Camden Soc.), 

 206. 



*** James Hamilton (1530-1609), 



eldest son of James, 2nd Earl of Arran, 

 and Duke of Chatelherault. He was 

 presumptive heir to the throne of Scot- 

 land. 



888 Cal. S.P. Foreign, 1558-9, no. 

 1274, 1293 ; Froude, op. cit. vii, 

 97, 140; Sadlcir Papers, 417, cit. 

 Law, op. cit. i, 282 ; Teulet, Relations 

 Politijues, i, 343-47, 357-61, &c. 



884 Cal. S.P. Foreign, 1558-9, no. 

 I II 6. 



M On 7 or 8 Sept. 1559. 



881 Ellis, Orig. Letter, (Scr. 2), iii, 



344 



135 ; S.P. Spanish, Eliz. iv ; S.P. 

 Venetian, viii, 4 April 1587 ; Lingard, 

 Hist. Engl. vi (n. E.E.) ; Law, Hist. 

 Hamfton Court Palace, i, 288. 



W Cal. S.P. Scotland, x, no. jia. 



888 Relations with Scotland were 

 strained. The agitations of the Roman 

 Catholic party had increased. The 

 plots of Arthur Pole had been dis- 

 covered. Troops had been dispatched 

 to take part in the civil war in France. 

 Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Law, op. cit, i, 289. 



