On This Day in Elizabethan History: Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester dies.

A close-up photograph of the Earl of Leicester's tomb effigy at Warwick Church. Picture by Peternilleon and shared for public use via Wikimedia Commons.

 

 "A personage so dear unto us."

-Queen Elizabeth describing the Earl of Leicester in a letter to the Earl of Shrewsbury, 1588.

 

On this day in Elizabethan history in 1588, Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester died. While the Earl of Leicester had been unwell for quite some time, nobody expected his illness to be fatal, least of all Queen Elizabeth I (ODNB). 

To learn about the Earl's last months with Queen Elizabeth, his final illness, and "His Last Letter", treasured by Queen Elizabeth until her own death in 1603, please view our feature-length article HERE.