Editing Elizabeth I (section)

===Robert Dudley===
[[File:Elizabeth and Leicester miniatures by Hilliard.png|thumb|Pair of [[Portrait miniature|miniatures]] of Elizabeth and Leicester, {{Circa|1575}}, by [[Nicholas Hilliard]]. Their friendship lasted for over 30 years, until his death.]]

In the spring of 1559, it became evident that Elizabeth was in love with her childhood friend [[Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester|Robert Dudley]].<ref>Loades, 42; Wilson, 95.</ref> It was said that his wife [[Amy Robsart|Amy]] was suffering from a "malady in one of her breasts" and that the Queen would like to marry Robert if his wife should die.<ref>Wilson, 95.</ref> By the autumn of 1559, several foreign suitors were vying for Elizabeth's hand; their impatient envoys engaged in ever more scandalous talk and reported that a marriage with her [[favourite]] was not welcome in England:<ref>Skidmore, 162, 165, 166–168.</ref> "There is not a man who does not cry out on him and her with indignation&nbsp;... she will marry none but the favoured Robert."<ref>Chamberlin, 118.</ref> Amy Dudley died in September 1560, from a fall from a flight of stairs and, despite the coroner's [[inquest]] finding of accident, many people suspected her husband of having arranged her death so that he could marry the Queen.<ref>Somerset, 166–167.</ref>{{Efn|Most modern historians have considered murder unlikely; breast cancer and suicide being the most widely accepted explanations.<ref>Doran, ''Monarchy'', 44.</ref> The [[coroner]]'s report, hitherto believed lost, came to light in [[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]] in the late 2000s and is compatible with a downstairs fall as well as other violence.<ref>Skidmore, 230–233.</ref>}} Elizabeth seriously considered marrying Dudley for some time. However, [[William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley|William Cecil]], [[Nicholas Throckmorton]], and some conservative [[Peerage of England|peers]] made their disapproval unmistakably clear.<ref>Wilson, 126–128.</ref> There were even rumours that the nobility would rise if the marriage took place.<ref>Doran, ''Monarchy'', 45.</ref>

Among other marriage candidates being considered for the queen, Robert Dudley continued to be regarded as a possible candidate for nearly another decade.<ref>Doran, ''Monarchy'', 212.</ref> Elizabeth was extremely jealous of his affections, even when she no longer meant to marry him herself.<ref>Adams, 384, 146.</ref> She raised Dudley to the peerage as [[Earl of Leicester]] in 1564. In 1578, he finally married [[Lettice Knollys]], to whom the queen reacted with repeated scenes of displeasure and lifelong hatred.<ref>Jenkins (1961), 245, 247; Hammer, 46.</ref> Still, Dudley always "remained at the centre of [Elizabeth's] emotional life", as historian [[Susan Doran]] has described the situation.<ref>Doran, ''Queen Elizabeth I'', 61.</ref> He died shortly after the defeat of the [[Spanish Armada]] in 1588. After Elizabeth's own death, a note from him was found among her most personal belongings, marked "his last letter" in her handwriting.<ref>Wilson, 303.</ref>