I'm interested in the pregnancy rumours about Queen Elizabeth.
I'd like to know the dates and the specific Progress(es) on which
she was rumoured to be pregnant.
I also heard rumours that her baby was given up to someone 'in the country'.
Any information on the above would be much appreciated.
3 comments:
The rumors that you are referring to are most likely lies. I, and many others, don't believe that a Queen of England, espescially as virtuos as Elizabeth was, would ever have sexual relations outside of wedlock. There was a strong rumor that Elizabeth was pregnant by Sir Robert Dudley, the Earl of Liecester, and that her child was born in secret in the country when she ws around 30. There was also a rumor that she was pregnant by Sir Thomus Seymour, the Lord High Admiral of England, the man who was married to Dowager Queen Katherine Parr. Both of these pregnancies have no facts to back them up though.
I agree with the above that the rumours will almost definitely have been rubbish, but I would love to know some more details of them, especially from contemporary sources. Anybody know more?
Alison Weir uses Elizabeth's supposed pregnancy by Thomas Seymour as a plot point in her novel, "The Lady Elizabeth". In her author's note, she explains the (rather sketchy) historical evidence on which she based this episode. In particular, she references an incident wherein a young midwife was called in the middle of the night to attend on "a very fair young woman" whose infant died soon after delivery. However, as she was blindfolded for most of her visit, the midwife could not conclusively identify her patient. Personally, I don't think this rumor (or any of the others) was anything more than a feeble attempt to discredit Elizabeth (whose position at this time, we should remember, was rather vunerable). Hope that helps!
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