Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester
Autograph letter, signed, to Queen Elizabeth I

©

Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester (1532?-1588) Autograph letter, signed, to Queen Elizabeth I [August 3, 1588]

Leicester wrote this personal letter from the camp at Tilbury while the English troops were waiting for the Spanish Armada. Twice he puts little eye-brows over the o's in "moost" and he signs the letter, "your most faythfull & most obedient ["eyes" symbol] R. Leycester," intimate reminders of the queen's nickname for him, her "Eyes." A month later he died from a fever at the age of fifty-five, and Elizabeth was grief-stricken.

Elizabeth I, Then and Now
Exhibition Highlights

Introduction | Court Life | Elizabeth's Wardrobe | Foreign Affairs | Leicester and Essex | The Scottish Connection | Elizabeth as Ruler | Elizabeth's Funeral | Afterlife, Then and Now

Exhibition Catalogue | Elizabeth For Young People | Curator's Notes | Elizabeth I Exhibition Home Page

This page updated August 15, 2003