Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester was an English statesman and the favourite of Elizabeth I from her accession until his death. He was a suitor for the queen's hand for many years.
Portrait in Waddesdon Manor, c. 1564. In the background are the devices of the Order of Saint Michael and the Order of the Garter; Robert Dudley was a knight of both.
Elizabeth's coronation procession: Dudley is on horseback on the far left, leading the palfrey of honour.
Dudley c. 1560
Lord Leicester. An 18th-century copy of his portrait and autograph
Francis Walsingham
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Sir Francis Walsingham was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England from 20 December 1573 until his death and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster".
Portrait c. 1585
Ruins of Scadbury Hall, seat of the Walsingham family, Chislehurst, Kent
Seventeenth-century engraving of Queen Elizabeth with William Cecil (left) and Francis Walsingham (right)
Famous portrait of Elizabeth I after the defeat of the Spanish Armada