Elizabeth (9 page)

E
lizabeth’s reaction to Thomas Seymour’s execution remains a matter of conjecture. Whether or not she had been privy to, or part of, a secret marriage plot with Thomas, this was without a doubt her first intimate relationship with a man and as such would influence the way she thought of men in her future dealings with them, both before and after she became Queen. Fraught, as they were, with political intrigue and emotional turbulence, her experiences with Seymour, even without the added complications of a possible secret pregnancy and child, were not likely to change the difficult and unhealthy vision of marriage that Elizabeth had formed, while still a child, as she observed firsthand the tragic outcomes of her father’s relationships with his wives.

If, as rumours at the time suggest, Elizabeth did have an illegitimate child with Thomas Seymour, it was most likely to have been conceived in 1548, when she was living in Catherine Parr’s household. There is no doubt that Elizabeth felt a fascination for Thomas, who was an extremely attractive and virile man, moreover one extremely popular with women. Whether his subsequent behaviour in visiting her bedroom while she was in bed and his other advances were solicited or not, it appears that Elizabeth did feel some form of passion for him. A more principled man would have made sure that if a young girl, particularly his wife’s ward, developed a crush on him nothing came of it, but Thomas seemed singularly lacking in principles; in any case, he was pursuing an agenda of his own.

Common sense and a well-developed sense of self-preservation should have told Thomas that the King’s sister should be off-limits. Thomas, however, was arrogant to the point of being self-destructive. His impulsive personality and imperious manner meant that he simply went ahead with his desires: if he had wanted Elizabeth and she had seemed willing, he would have justified his actions by arguing that when his plans matured, he would be a major power in the country and no one would be able to punish either of them for any untoward behaviour.

In order to find out the truth and extent of Thomas and Elizabeth’s relationship, we need to explore what was said during the discussion that took place between Elizabeth and Catherine in May or June 1548, just before Elizabeth was sent away from Chelsea. None of Catherine’s letters to Elizabeth survive, but the first letter from Elizabeth to her stepmother after their parting shows no sign that they parted bitterly. If anything, Elizabeth seems to be thanking Catherine for being kind and supportive. This supports the contention that Elizabeth was sent away not as a result of Catherine’s own jealousy, but to save her. But, if that is the case, what was Catherine trying to protect Elizabeth from? The loss of her reputation? Thomas? Or was she protecting a young girl in possession of an explosive secret – should it become common knowledge?

Is it possible that when they spoke, Elizabeth broke down and told Catherine that she might be pregnant? That would explain Catherine’s desire to get Elizabeth away from the house – and from Thomas Seymour – as soon as possible to the Dennys, a safe place. It could also explain Catherine’s promise to let Elizabeth know ‘of all evils’ people might speak of her – that is, to warn her if any hint of the pregnancy ever surfaced. It could also demonstrate a closing of ranks by Catherine and Elizabeth to protect Thomas despite his selfish, philandering behaviour.

The time frame also works: Catherine and Thomas had married in April or May 1547 and, as Catherine gave birth in August 1548, she probably fell pregnant in December. Thomas appears to have begun his pursuit of Elizabeth as early as the summer of 1547, but it would most likely have been after his wife knew that she was pregnant, in February or March 1548, that he began a physical relationship with Elizabeth.

If Elizabeth had fallen pregnant soon after that, by May or June when she left Catherine’s household, she may have been about three months along, a time when a pregnancy would have begun to show. She may have had no choice but to tell Catherine of her situation, but very few people other than her stepmother needed to be involved in keeping the secret. She would, of course, have needed the help of Blanche Parry and Kat Ashley (the latter was so loyal she would later continue to protect Elizabeth while interned in the Tower of London). Finally, Lord and Lady Denny, who were the sister and brother-in-law of Kat Ashley, gave her sanctuary and also closed ranks around the teenage princess, allowing her to take to her bed over the next six months.

In September, when Catherine died and Elizabeth was said to be suffering bouts of ill health, she could have been seven or eight months pregnant. No one but her closest servants would ever have seen her unclothed. Even a doctor would have been forbidden to look at a naked female patient. The ‘illnesses’ would explain any sickness or prolonged bed rest; any apparent ‘swelling’ of her abdomen could be explained away as resulting from a kidney complaint.

This timing would put the birth of the child in October or November 1548. If this was the case, it would tie in with Elizabeth’s letter to the Protector in January 1549, when she wrote concerning rumours ‘… that I am … with child by my Lord Admiral. My lord, these are shameful slanders, for the which
besides the great desire I have to see the King’s Majesty, I shall most heartily desire your lordship that I may come to Court after your first determination, that I may show myself there as I am.’
¹

In January Elizabeth would have been able to face her interrogators in person; she could come to Court and show that she was not pregnant; she may even have permitted a discreet examination of her person, because by that time she was not pregnant any more.

Even at this young age, Elizabeth had political enemies who would have been happy to see her removed from the succession, disgraced or dead. To the latter group belonged the Catholics who feared that the Protestant Edward VI might decide to pass over the Catholic Princess Mary or Mary, Queen of Scots and leave the throne to Elizabeth. Another faction supported an alternative Protestant heir, particularly Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk, and her eldest daughter, Lady Jane Grey.

Elizabeth’s supporters, on the other hand, came from a wide spectrum of Court and country. Many Protestants preferred Elizabeth over her Catholic half-sister Mary as Edward VI’s successor, should he die without an heir. There were even some who saw her as a possible focal point for an as yet unplanned rebellion. Elizabeth’s mother’s paternal family, the Boleyns, and her extended maternal family, the Howards, also saw her as their chance to recapture their old greatness if she came to the throne. But at the heart of things, it was Elizabeth’s personal servants and their families who were personally devoted to her and who helped her most at Cheshunt. There, Elizabeth would have been surrounded by well-wishers who could cover up her pregnancy and help her place the child in a suitable home, once it was born.

If it was true that Thomas had made her pregnant, at some point in October or November 1548, Elizabeth gave birth to a child. Directly afterwards, Elizabeth left Cheshunt and moved to Hatfield. This arguably might have served to draw all eyes away from the Dennys and their task of placing the baby somewhere safe, but there were rumours, both at the time and later on regarding this. There was the story of a London midwife, taken one night to the Great House in the village of Hamstead Marshall in Berkshire, where she was called upon to assist a fair young lady give birth. As soon as the child was born, it was reportedly murdered by a ferocious gentleman who attended the lady. The horrified midwife was generously rewarded and returned home, only to die several days later after being poisoned.
²
That the ‘fair young lady’ might have been Elizabeth seems to be supported by the fact that the Great House at Hamstead Marshall belonged to Sir Thomas Parry. However, the house only passed to Parry in 1559, long after these events were said to have taken place. Furthermore, rumours like this were not uncommon.

This story might not be as wild as it seems, though.
The Life of Jane Dormer, Duchess of Feria
, a biography of one of Mary I’s ladies-in-waiting who married the Spanish Duke de Feria, was written during Elizabeth’s lifetime. It includes the passage:

Dating from the early 1600s, the account is close to contemporary with Elizabeth’s life, but it should be noted that Jane Dormer was one of Mary I’s closest friends and a fanatical Catholic who disliked Elizabeth enormously while the references to Elizabeth may have been meant to discredit her. They probably also act as a gauge of public rumours at the time.

Another possibility is that Elizabeth did fall pregnant, but she never carried the child to term, either miscarrying while she was at Cheshunt, or aborting it and this might explain why there is no positive trace of her child. In any event, by January 1549 Elizabeth could demonstrate that she was not pregnant.

Those researchers who believe that Elizabeth did give birth to a healthy child have endeavoured to identify it over the years. Historian Paul Streitz suggests that the infant boy was given to John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford, and his wife, Margery Golding (who later became a maid of honour to Elizabeth I), and was brought up as Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.

The young de Vere did seem to have a ‘guardian angel’ – or an influential parent. When John de Vere died in 1562, Edward became a ward of Court and was placed in the household of
William Cecil, Elizabeth I’s Secretary of State and one of the most influential men in England. De Vere later attended Queen’s College, Cambridge, and was awarded a Master of Arts degree from both Cambridge and Oxford. He continued his education at the Inns of Court, where, in July 1567, he killed a cook named Thomas Bricknell while fencing. The jury was told the far-fetched story that an intoxicated Bricknell had thrown himself onto de Vere’s blade,. The resulting verdict was suicide and by this decision, Bricknell’s pregnant widow and child were stripped of his possessions by the state.

In 1571, the 21-year-old de Vere married Cecil’s favourite daughter, 15-year-old Anne. The couple had a son and four daughters, but de Vere accused her of adultery (at one time he refused to acknowledge one of his daughters) and abandoned her several times. He had innumerable affairs with women and men, and in 1581 he had an illegitimate son (Sir Edward Vere) by Anne Vavasour. After spending some years travelling abroad, he became a Catholic for a short time before confessing all to Elizabeth I, giving up the Catholic Church and betraying his Catholic friends as traitors.