He was handsome, daring, and utterly reckless, the man who stole the heart of England’s greatest queen in her final years, and then broke it.

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, was born on this day in 1565. He rose from ambitious courtier to Elizabeth I’s beloved favourite - charming, bold, and impossible to ignore. But his pride and defiance would destroy him.

I’m historian and author Claire Ridgway, and in this episode we’ll trace the rise and ruin of the Queen’s “darling of her old age”: his dangerous ambition, his disastrous rebellion, and the shocking betrayal that ended with an axe on Tower Green.

Was Robert Devereux a tragic hero, or the author of his own destruction?

Watch until the end to decide for yourself.

 

Subscribe for more Tudor history every week!