The Voyage of the Armada
The Voyage of the Armada, The Spanish Story by David Howarth
p.40
That summer of 1587, a strange and quite unexpected hitch occurred in these plans. An English youth called Arthur Dudley turned up in Spain. saying confidently that he was a catholic and that he was the son of Queen Elizabeth and the Earl of Leicester. He was interviewed many times by Sir Francis Englefield,, who was King Philipps's English secretary, and he told a very detailed and circumstantial story. He had been brought up by a man called Robert Southern, who had been a servant at court, but he had been given the costly education of a gentleman. On his deathbed Southern had told him that he was not his father; he had been given him, as a new-born baby, in a corridor outside the queen's private chamber at Hampton Court, and his education had been paid for by a courtier.
Perhaps the idea that the queen had a bastard son seemed less unlikely then than it does now. But reading Arthur's story - he wrote it all down for Englefield - one has to believe that he was the son of some lady of the court, and that he and Southern sincerely believed his mother was the queen. He had contrived to meet the earl, who had treated him with great affection and said, 'You are like a ship under full sail at sea, pretty to look at but dangerous to deal with' - such a strangely chosen simile that it has the ring of truth. He also believed the queen had arranged with the earl to raise him to the throne of England when she died; and he asked Philip, as one catholic to another, to protect him from English intrigue untill that time came.
Englefield evidently liked the boy and was convinced his story was true - though he thought the queen might be using Arthur for some nefarious purpose that Arthur did nto understand. But he put his own loyalty to Philip first. 'It is true' he reported, 'that his claim at present amounts to nothing, but France or the English heretics, or some other party, might make it a pretext for obstructing the inheritance of the crown by its legitimate master. Iny my opinion, he should not be allowed to get away, but should be kept very secure to prevent his escape.'
On the face of it Arthur should have been an acceptable answer to Philip's religious qualms. A son of Queen Elizabeth, even a bastard, had a stronger claim to the throne than anyone else, and he was a catholic. But Arthur must have been a naive and trusting boy. In fact he had put his head into the lion's mouth, for Philip saw him as nothing but a rather ludicrous rival. On Englefield's report, the king wrote, in his own hand, 'It will certainly be safest to make sure of this person until we know more about the matter.' And one may imagine a grim smile on that humourless face as he wrote the words, for Arthur Dudley disappeared at that moment from history and was never heard of again.
p.40
That summer of 1587, a strange and quite unexpected hitch occurred in these plans. An English youth called Arthur Dudley turned up in Spain. saying confidently that he was a catholic and that he was the son of Queen Elizabeth and the Earl of Leicester. He was interviewed many times by Sir Francis Englefield,, who was King Philipps's English secretary, and he told a very detailed and circumstantial story. He had been brought up by a man called Robert Southern, who had been a servant at court, but he had been given the costly education of a gentleman. On his deathbed Southern had told him that he was not his father; he had been given him, as a new-born baby, in a corridor outside the queen's private chamber at Hampton Court, and his education had been paid for by a courtier.
Perhaps the idea that the queen had a bastard son seemed less unlikely then than it does now. But reading Arthur's story - he wrote it all down for Englefield - one has to believe that he was the son of some lady of the court, and that he and Southern sincerely believed his mother was the queen. He had contrived to meet the earl, who had treated him with great affection and said, 'You are like a ship under full sail at sea, pretty to look at but dangerous to deal with' - such a strangely chosen simile that it has the ring of truth. He also believed the queen had arranged with the earl to raise him to the throne of England when she died; and he asked Philip, as one catholic to another, to protect him from English intrigue untill that time came.
Englefield evidently liked the boy and was convinced his story was true - though he thought the queen might be using Arthur for some nefarious purpose that Arthur did nto understand. But he put his own loyalty to Philip first. 'It is true' he reported, 'that his claim at present amounts to nothing, but France or the English heretics, or some other party, might make it a pretext for obstructing the inheritance of the crown by its legitimate master. Iny my opinion, he should not be allowed to get away, but should be kept very secure to prevent his escape.'
On the face of it Arthur should have been an acceptable answer to Philip's religious qualms. A son of Queen Elizabeth, even a bastard, had a stronger claim to the throne than anyone else, and he was a catholic. But Arthur must have been a naive and trusting boy. In fact he had put his head into the lion's mouth, for Philip saw him as nothing but a rather ludicrous rival. On Englefield's report, the king wrote, in his own hand, 'It will certainly be safest to make sure of this person until we know more about the matter.' And one may imagine a grim smile on that humourless face as he wrote the words, for Arthur Dudley disappeared at that moment from history and was never heard of again.
