Chapter X: The Bisley Boy

A. PROLEGOMENON

Queen Elizabeth, the last of the House of Tudor, died unmarried. Since her death in 1603, there have been revolutions in England due to varying causes, but all more or less disruptive of family memories. The son of James I had his head cut off, and after the Commonwealth which followed, Charles I’s son James II, had to quit on the coming of William III, by invitation. After William’s death without issue, Anne, daughter of James II, reigned for a dozen years, and was succeeded by George I, descended through the female line from James I. His descendants still sit on the throne of England.

NO DESCENDANTS

The above facts are given not merely in the way of historical enlightenment but rather as a sort of apologetic prolegomenon to the ethical consideration of the matter immediately before us. Had Queen Elizabeth had any descendants, they need not have feared any discussion of her claims of descent. The issue of the legality of her mother’s marriage had been tried exhaustively both before and after her own birth, and she held the sceptre both by the will of her dead father and the consent of her dead half-sister who left no issue. But Queen Elizabeth, whatever her origin, would have been a sufficient ancestor for any King or any Dynasty. Still, had she left issue there might have been lesser people, descendants, whose feelings in the matter of personal and family pride would have required consideration; and no person entering on an analysis of historical fact would have felt quite free-handed in such an investigation.

B. THE QUEEN’S SECRET

There are quite sufficient indications throughout the early life of Queen Elizabeth that there was _some_ secret which she kept religiously guarded. Various historians of the time have referred to it, and now and again in a way which is enlightening.

In a letter to the Protector Somerset in 1549, when the Princess Elizabeth was 15, Sir Robert Tyrwhitt says:

“I do verily believe that there hath been some secret promise
between my Lady, Mistress Ashley, and the Cofferer” [Sir Thomas
Parry] “never to confess to death, and if it be so, it will never
be gotten of her, unless by the King’s Majesty or else by your
Grace.”

In his _Girlhood of Queen Elizabeth_ Mr. Frank A. Mumby writes of this:--

“Elizabeth was as loyal to Parry as to Mrs. Ashley; she
reinstated him after a year’s interval, in his office as
Cofferer, and on her accession to the throne she appointed
him Controller of the royal household. She continued to confer
preferment upon both Parry and his daughter to the end of their
lives--“conduct,” remarks Miss Strickland, “which naturally
induces a suspicion that secrets of great moment had been
confided to him--secrets that probably would have touched not
only the maiden name of his royal Mistress, but placed her life
in jeopardy, and that he had preserved these inviolate. The same
may be supposed with respect to Mrs. Ashley, to whom Elizabeth
clung with unshaken tenacity through every storm.”

Major Martin Hume in his _Courtships of Queen Elizabeth_ says of the favourable treatment of the Governess and the Cofferer:--

“The confessions of Ashley and Parry are bad enough; but they
probably kept back more than they told, for on Elizabeth’s
accession and for the rest of their lives, they were treated
with marked favour. Parry was knighted and made Treasurer of the
Household, and on Mrs. Ashley’s death in July 1565 the Queen
visited her in person and mourned her with great grief.”

The same writer says elsewhere in the book:

“Lady Harrington and Mrs. Ashley were, in fact, the only ladies
about the Queen who were absolutely in her confidence.”

In a letter to the Doge of Venice in 1556 Giovanni Michiel wrote:

“She” [Elizabeth] “I understand, having plainly said that she
will not marry, even were they to give her the King’s” [Philip of
Spain] “son” [Don Carlos, Philip’s son by his first wife] “or
find any other great prince, I again respectfully remind your
serenity to enjoin secrecy about this.”

Count de Feria wrote in April, 1559:

“If my spies do not lie, which I believe they do not, for a
certain reason which they have recently given me, I understand
that she [Elizabeth] will not bear children.”

At this time Elizabeth was only 26 years of age.

The following extract is taken from Mr. Mumby’s _Girlhood of Queen Elizabeth_ in which is given the translation taken from Leti’s _La Vie d’Elizabeth_. The letter is from Princess Elizabeth to Lord Admiral Seymour, 1548 (_apropos_ of his intentions regarding her):--

“It has also been said that I have only refused you because I
was thinking of some one else. I therefore entreat you, my lord,
to set your mind at rest on this subject, and to be persuaded by
this declaration that up to this time I have not the slightest
intention of being married, and, that if ever I should think of
it (_which I do not believe is possible_) you would be the first
to whom I should make known my resolution.”