After her husband was executed, Bess Raleigh supposedly kept something of his in a red velvet bag, the most macabre keepsake imaginable. She had once hoped to rise among the English nobility, and her family could not have been prouder when she married a man of great influence and came close to the queen herself. Yet the rebellious streak that had marked her family for generations eventually caught up with her. Still, she felt no regret for any of it, even as her fall from grace became complete, because everything she had done, she had done for love.
There was no shortage of people who wanted to be close to an English monarch, but Bess’s family already had the advantage. Born in 1565 to Anne Caro and Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, she enjoyed the privilege of belonging to the nobility, and her father had a special connection to the royal family. His cousin was Queen Catherine, the last wife of Henry VIII. It did not take long before Elizabeth, or Bess as her family called her, faced her first obstacle, though that happened before she had any ambitions of her own.
At just four years old, she watched her father being taken away on suspicion of conspiring with the Duke of Norfolk, who had hoped to remove Queen Elizabeth I from the throne. Fortunately, the charges against him were never proven, but he never regained the queen’s favor. After his fall from grace, Sir Nicholas was in no position to support his family well, which became an even greater problem when he died in 1571. In an era when only women of a certain social class could read and write, Bess was determined to distinguish herself.
She began her studies at an early age, and her mother watched her grow into a clever, hardworking, and educated young woman. Her older brother, Arthur, had gathered enough money to pave the way for Bess to become a lady-in-waiting, and she did obtain a position attending Queen Elizabeth. By 1582, Bess had built enough connections among the courtiers that she received her first marriage proposal that year from the nobleman with the resounding name, Bassingbourne Gaudy. Although marriage might have been a wise move, something her father might have aspired to, she was already doing well on her own.
Without a husband, she had access to the queen’s court, and she agreed with her mother that marriage would only be a step backward. Instead of marrying or trying to advance her goals through conspiracies like others in her family, Bess stayed on her path and waited patiently for her time to come. By 1584, her hard work paid off when the queen appointed her as a lady of the privy chamber, meaning she became one of the closest and most trusted personal attendants of Queen Elizabeth I. Bess was already accustomed to the demands of the court, but now she was among the elite, and the queen watched her more closely than ever.
She met many of the richest people in the queen’s court, and while most of them were stiff nobles she had no emotional interest in, Sir Walter Raleigh was different. As one of the queen’s favorites, Raleigh spent a great deal of time around Bess, and the two grew close until they fell madly in love and soon expected a child. It would have been a roaring scandal if the queen had learned that one of her most trusted ladies was involved with her favorite. So when Bess and Raleigh married in 1591, they did so behind closed doors and without the queen’s permission.
Although that placed them in even greater danger, the couple was overjoyed when their first child was born in March 1592. Although both Bess and Sir Walter depended on each other to cover up their relationship, they could not do it alone, and fortunately they had at least one person they could trust. While he would later face the death penalty for treason himself, the Earl of Essex, Robert Devereux, was another favorite of the queen at the time and a close friend of the couple. They not only confided their secrets to him but also made him the godfather of their son.
Bess had to make sure the queen had no reason to suspect anything. So, although she should have taken more time to recover after giving birth, she did not have that luxury. Shortly after returning to court, she entrusted her child to a wet nurse in Enfield, bitterly unaware of what would later happen. While she was away, the plague reached England and tragically took the life of her newborn son.
Bess and Raleigh continued their forbidden relationship, even though their lives were at risk. Bess needed royal permission to marry at all, but the queen would have considered her marriage to one of her favorites the ultimate betrayal. Queen Elizabeth was not foolish, and while she may have suspected something was going on, she found no concrete evidence until early 1592. However, she did not confront them immediately.
Instead, she watched as they dug their own graves. It would have been easy if they had admitted their mistake and asked for forgiveness, but as they continued performing their duties at court, the queen’s anger grew stronger and stronger. Feeling insulted and enraged, the queen could no longer allow Bess and Raleigh to continue their work. She confronted the couple, and although she initially placed them under house arrest, their final sentence was imprisonment in the Tower of London.
But this would not last long, especially since the queen still needed Sir Walter’s skills. By that time, Raleigh had led several naval expeditions, one of which came as a lifeline while he and Bess waited out their imprisonment. When he returned from a voyage in September 1592, the fleet under his command had captured a Spanish merchant ship and brought it back with all its treasures. Since it was his right to divide the spoils himself, Sir Raleigh regained his freedom after only a few months.
By December, the queen released Bess from the Tower, reuniting her with her lover. The queen was likely still angry about their unauthorized marriage, but after Bess and Raleigh had served their sentences, she could not do much to keep them apart. Fortunately, she eventually got over the betrayal, seemingly remembering why she had favored Sir Walter in the first place, and she forgave him and accepted his return to court. But Elizabeth refused to show the same kind of mercy toward Bess for one reason.
Sir Walter Raleigh admitted his choices and asked for forgiveness, while her pride prevented her from doing the same, resulting in her permanent banishment from court. Bess had spent most of her life trying to win the queen’s favor, but despite losing it, she seemed happier because of that. Now that she no longer had to hide her marriage, she could focus on her more fulfilling role as Lady Raleigh, and every day she spent away from London made her more grateful to live elsewhere. While some historians insist that Bess was a domineering wife, it is hard to say that her marriage to Raleigh was unhappy.
They remained loyal to each other through periods of secrecy and imprisonment. Now that they could love each other freely, they wanted to build a life together. In 1593, they were overjoyed to welcome their second son, Walter. Bess may have left all hopes of returning to the royal court behind, but the door was reopened for her in 1603 with the death of Queen Elizabeth I.
After King James ascended the throne, his wife, Anne of Denmark, became the queen. Courtiers from all over England flocked to meet her and try to win her favor. While Bess was content with her new life, she thought it was a good idea to try to join her husband at the royal court. She traveled to where Anne of Denmark was staying in Northamptonshire to greet her.
While the two exchanged the usual pleasantries, Bess knew it was pointless. By the time she returned home, she realized she had not made enough of an impression on the new queen and that she should have stayed at her own house. However, she would soon realize just how futile it all was when their quiet life was suddenly torn apart. Because Sir Raleigh had supported another claim to the throne, King James placed him under arrest for treason.
Despite denying any involvement in the main conspiracy against King James, the crown was not convinced, and as his end seemed near, he hurriedly wrote a letter to Bess expressing his eternal love for her and urging her to find another husband after he was gone. But he was also asking a favor. He revealed that he had another child, an illegitimate daughter, and asked Bess to take the girl in to live with her. In a shocking surprise, King James was more reasonable than expected.
Although Raleigh was convicted of treason, King James decided not to execute him, only sentencing him to life imprisonment. Since he was still a nobleman, this punishment was not as bad as it could have been. Raleigh was given two private rooms where his family could join him at any time. Thus, not only were he and Bess able to stay together as a family, but they also welcomed a new child, as she gave birth to their third son, Carew, in 1605.
King James may have been firm about Sir Raleigh’s sentence, but he soon faced a dilemma that Queen Elizabeth had also faced. The nobleman’s services were needed again. The legends of the lost golden city, El Dorado, had excited all of Europe. Since Raleigh was one of the most prominent explorers of his time, King James released him in 1617 with orders to find the city for England.
Bess happily accepted the terms of her husband’s freedom, and even when Raleigh left on the expedition, taking their twenty-four-year-old son Walter with him, she encouraged them. But sadly, a year later, she received a letter in which Sir Raleigh told her that their son had been killed in an unauthorized attack on the Spanish. Bess had not only lost another son, but her husband was also on his way to execution, all because of a fatal mistake. England and Spain had recently signed a peace treaty.
So when Sir Walter Raleigh’s men ambushed the Spanish, he was held responsible even though he had not ordered it. Refusing to flee, he returned and surrendered himself to the crown, but not before spending his last two weeks with his beloved wife. As before, Bess accompanied her husband to the Tower of London, but this time it was not entirely her choice. As the partner of Sir Walter Raleigh, King James ordered her to be imprisoned alongside him.
In addition to Raleigh being taken back into custody, the crown seized his property, leaving Bess facing greater fears than just losing her husband. Although Sir Raleigh had escaped death several times before, he was not so lucky this time. He and Bess had a moment to say goodbye before the guards led him to the Old Palace Yard and cut off his head. Although he had seized all of Raleigh’s property, the king eventually took pity on Bess and granted her 8,000 pounds as compensation, along with an annual pension of 400 pounds for life.
After losing two of her children and her husband, Bess wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of her days with her remaining son, Carew, and the last keepsake of her husband. After Sir Raleigh’s head was embalmed, Bess placed it in a red velvet bag and kept it in a cabinet beside her bed, refusing to part with it. Immediately after his execution, she began fighting to clear his name and restore the reputation he had once enjoyed. Her efforts were successful, as the Compensation Act of 1628 finally acknowledged Sir Raleigh’s legacy, allowing Carew to eventually inherit his father’s assets.
Bess lived for several decades after her husband’s death and never remarried. She died in 1647, and only then did her family consider it fitting to return Sir Raleigh’s head to the rest of his body, which was now buried in St. Margaret’s Church. Bess, I have never loved you more than I love you at this moment.
Do not speak of love again. I will never stop loving you. Go your own way.