Robert Dudley 1533 - 1588
Robert Dudley , 5th son. English courtier. Sentenced to death with his father for supporting Lady Jane Grey (1554), but pardoned; served in France with his brother Ambrose (1557); advanced, as Queen Elizabeth's favorite, to privy council (1559); rumored to have killed wife (1560) in order to be free to marry Elizabeth, but she refused his suit; intrigued with queen's consent, but unsuccessfully, to gain Spanish and Catholic support for projected marriage with Elizabeth (1561); offended queen and court by presumptuousness (1563); suggested by Elizabeth as husband for Mary, Queen of Scots (1564); failed to displace Cecil; entertained queen in great magnificence, with masques, at Kenilworth castle (1575); commanded expedition into Low Countries to aid United Provinces against Spaniards (1585), in which campaign his nephew Sir Philip Sidney was killed; recalled (1587) after an incompetent campaign; restored to favour and appointed lieutenant general in command of armies to resist Spanish Armada.
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Born: 24th Jun 1533 | Baptised:
| Died: Sep 1588 | Buried:
| Family: Dudley |
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