(Research):DUDLEY, SIR ROBERT (1573-1649), titular duke of Northumberland and earl of Warwick, English explorer, engineer and author, was the son of Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, the favorite of Queen Elizabeth. His mother was Lady Douglas Sheffield, daughter of Thomas, first Baron Howard of Effingham. Leicester, who deserted Lady Douglas Sheffield for Lettice Knollys, widow of the first earl of Essex, denied that they were married. She asserted that they, were, at Esher in Surrey, but her marriage with Sir Edward Stafford of Grafton, after her desertion, by Leicester, would seem to be a tacit confession that her claim had no foundation. Her son Robert was born in May 1573, was recognized by Leicester, and sent to Christ Church, Oxford, in 1587. He inherited all Leicesters property under the earls will at his death in 1588, and in the following year the property of Ambrose Dudley, earl of Warwick.
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Robert Dudley |