Noble Blood - The Maybe Queen Arbella

Episode Date: October 1, 2019

Arbella Stuart was a pawn her entire life—a possible successor to Queen Elizabeth I and a valuable marriage prospect to be dangled before foreign princes. But when Arbella finally decided to take her life into her own hands, she ignited a series of events straight out of a Shakesperean tragedy. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Vodam. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot.

But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, The cat, just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of IHeart Radio and Aaron Manky. Listener discretion is advised. Once upon a time, there was a princess locked away. In this type of story, it's always an evil, older woman holding the beautiful princess hostage, right? In Cinderella, it's the evil stepmother who locks Cinderella in her bedroom so that the prince won't try to fit the left-behind glass slipper on her perfect tiny foot. Rapunzel was locked in a tower by the witch who became her guardian, who stole her away from her parents as payment for the vegetables they stole from her garden. Sleeping Beauty is put to sleep by a jealous and malevolent fairy. For Arbela Stewart, the captor was her great.

grandmother, the formidable Bess of Hardwick, who, through four advantageous marriages, had become the wealthiest woman in England, second only to Queen Elizabeth herself. Queen Elizabeth I was famously cagey about who would be her successor. She hadn't named an heir. Arabella Stewart was a great-granddaughter of Margaret Tudor and in serious contention. And so Arbella's grandmother, Bess of Hardwick, kept Arabella like a prize jewel, secure and locked away. Arbella was incredibly well-educated and well-read,

taught and mannered, raised to believe that one day she could be a queen. But Arabella didn't want to be a queen, not really. She wanted what all the princesses who are locked away in fairy tales want, a man to come and sweep her away. For Arbella, marriage meant freedom. But marriage gets complicated when you're in line for the throne, when you're either a threat or a pawn depending on the day. Young Arabella Stewart tried to take matters into her own hands,

and it had deadly consequences. I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is noble blood. Ayres are always a tricky proposition for monarchs. On one hand, they're essential. Producing heirs is the only real way of ensuring your dynasty of making sure your blood continues to rule after you're gone. But as soon as you name your successor, you'll have a target on your back. There was probably no one who understood that better than Elizabeth I.

Elizabeth had watched her sickly brother, Edward, become king, followed by their sister, Mary. Their father, King Henry VIII, had named in his will that Elizabeth then would follow after Mary, and Mary was massively unpopular. She was Catholic and took to burning Protestants at the stake. Almost as bad, she married a Spaniard. And so even when Mary was queen, people had started looking around the corner for who would come next. There were a number of unsuccessful rebellions to put Elizabeth on the throne before her time. And up in Scotland, Elizabeth's first cousin, Mary Queen of Scots,

was overthrown in favor of her own son, next in line, who became King James the 6th. So Elizabeth understood what a dangerous proposition it was to give unsatisfied subjects someone else, someone better maybe, to look forward to. And so as Elizabeth grew older and it became apparent that the queen would not marry and produce children of her own, she refused to name who would be the one to follow her on the throne of England. She knew as soon as she did, she would cede some of her power.

She would become a royal lame duck. but someone would need to be the next ruler of England. Young King James of Scotland was the logical choice. I'm warning you now, we're going to get into the family tree a little bit, so bear with me. James' parents were Mary, Queen of Scots, and her husband, Lord Darnley. Both Mary and Darnley were descendants of Henry VIII's older sister, Margaret Tudor, Mary from her first husband, and Darnley from her second. Yeah, they were cousins, but that sort of thing was to be.

expected. So their son, James' claim, was pretty strong. But he was also born in Scotland. He was a foreigner. A lot of subjects wanted someone a little more homegrown. Erbella Stewart's father was Lord Darnley's younger brother, which meant that she was also a descendant of Margaret Tudor. Sure, her claim was a little less strong than James, but again, she was born in England. And strength of family claim wouldn't matter quite so much if Elizabeth explicitly declared that she was her successor. And sometimes, that's exactly what it seemed like Elizabeth was going to do. But Arabella was more valuable to Elizabeth as a possibility than a certainty, especially as a threat to keep James the 6th in check, in case he began to get cocky or was

thinking about getting too mad about Elizabeth executing his mother, Mary Queen of Scots. Arabella was right there as a reminder that his ascension to the English throne wasn't guaranteed. And as Elizabeth aged out of the marriageable range, she began to dangle Erbella in front of foreign princes as a marriage prospect. All the more valuable considering Erbella might be the heir to England. But though a number of these marriages were floated, none ever came to fruition, which meant that Erbella remained in her grandmother's custody, kept safe and far away so that the idea of her could be a diplomatic weapon in Elizabeth's arsenal. Once, when Arabella was a teenager, she was summoned to the glittering court of Elizabeth I.

It was the first time in her life that Arabella was free of her grandmother's oppressive Hardwick Hall. Arbella did everything she could to impress the intimidating queen. And she did well. Elizabeth called Erbella an eaglet of her own kind, and even remarked to a Venetian ambassador that Arabella might one day, quote, be as she herself is. But then, Arabella tasting freedom for the first time did something a little unwise. She flirted. She flirted with Robert Devereaux, second Earl of Essex, one of the Queen's favorites.

And so, Arbella was sent back home to Hardwick Hall. with a slap on her wrist and a reminder. You are of noble blood, and so your body belongs to the crown. For ten years, Erbella lived in all but exile at Hardwick Hall. It was a decade of strict education, restricted walks and privileges, few visitors and fewer friends.

Her only escape would be marriage, but there was no indication that one would be coming at all. In the prime of her life, She was a pawn put back safe in the box. Desperately lonely, Arbella did the one thing she could to contact the outside world. She wrote letters.

She wrote increasingly mad, slightly frantic, seemingly manic letters. She claimed, in a letter to the Earl of Hartford, that she was engaged to his grandson, Edward Seymour. Now the Seymours were also a noble family with valuable royal blood. They were descended. of Mary Tudor, King Henry VIII's younger sister.

A match between Arbella and Edward Seymour would definitely strengthen her claim to the English throne. But that match made behind the queen's back was all but treason. Edward's grandfather reported the letter to the queen. Inquiries were made. The queen's representative, Sir Henry Brunker, came to Hardwick Hall to interrogate Arbella about the letter.

Herbella had never even met Edward Seymour. They weren't engaged. Why had she written a treasonous letter claiming otherwise? Brunker sat with the young, lonely Arbella, sullen and staring up at him with extraordinarily round eyes. He asked her questions. She answered questions. Brunker concluded that she was just a silly girl writing about flights of fancy. The letter wasn't treason.

It was the fantasy of a lonely girl using her imagination. They all had a good laugh about that, and after Brunker left, everyone forgot about Arabella again for a little while. But her letters to the outside world didn't stop. They became more manic, more outlandish. Arbella claimed that she had a mysterious lover, that she was engaged and all but married to someone in secret that no one knew about. When pressed, she revealed that,

her mysterious fiance was none other than her cousin, King James VI of Scotland. There was no match between her and her cousin. Historians argue about Arbella's letters, whether they're reckless or cunning, maybe an attempt to strong arm her own powerful marriage that could position her favorably for the crown. Or maybe Arbella was taken with madness, afflicted with the porphyria that affected so many others with royal blood, that swelling in the brain and mania that would come to incapacitate King George III in more than a century's time. But maybe the truth is simpler than that. Maybe Arbella

wrote outlandish letters for a very simple reason. The same reason young women today post things on the internet that might not be true, things that are inflammatory. Arbella was cut off from the world and alone. Maybe she just wanted the world to be reminded of her, existence. Maybe she just wanted someone to notice her. Eventually, Queen Elizabeth I died, and King James I of Scotland became King James I of England. And then something amazing happened. James invited his cousin to court. And for the first time in her life, Arbella got to live on her own. She hated court. She hated the drunkenness and the promiscuity, the handsome young boys vying for the king's attention, following him back to his rooms. But she was free. At least she was,

until she made a tragic mistake. For years, Erbella had gently pressed King James to allow her to get married. He dodged and demurred. And now Arabella was 34 years old, almost passing the age at which she'd be able to have a child. And a terrible realization dawned on her. The king didn't want her to get married and have a child. Of course he didn't. Any child of hers would be a potential rival for opponents of his to rally behind as an alternate ruler. That risk would only be compounded if Arabella was married to someone of her status, of dynastic significance with a claim of his own. Arabella realized the truth. She was never going to be allowed to get married. Her own existence was a threat, and that existence was tolerated, barely.

but she could never be permitted to have children of her own. And so Arabella took matters into her own hands. Without the king's knowledge or consent, Arbella got married to a man a decade her junior, a tutor descendant in his own right named William Seymour. The younger brother of the Edward Seymour, Arabella had once written letters about marrying. Their marriage was an act of treason.

It was also an act of love. William Seymour was thrown in the Tower of London. Arabella was put under house arrest with a man named Sir Thomas Perry. Fortunately, when you're rich and noble, security isn't too tight. William and Arabella managed a few conjugal visits together until rumors reached King James that Arabella might be pregnant. The king was outraged. He ordered Arabella be transferred north to Durham,

where meetings with her husband would be impossible. The days before her transfer were her last chance. Arabella and William needed to run away to the continent, to safety, to be together. On the day of her scheduled departure to Durham, Arabella told her captor that she was too sick to move. She lay in bed, refusing food and water, and said she couldn't even support her own weight on her two legs. If you want me to come with you to Durham, she said, you'll have to carry me.

Sir Thomas Perry didn't know what to do. He summoned a doctor who agreed that, yes, the young woman's pulse was weak. And Perry wrote to the king, who signed and permitted Arabella's transfer to Durham, delayed a few weeks. While the party was distracted, Arabella put on hose, a man's doublet, a black hat, a sword, and boots. She slipped away from the house when no one was looking. Disguised as a man, she and a few loyal servants set out for the coast where she would meet with her husband, and they together would catch a ship to France. Arabella made it to Blackwater, their meeting spot without any trouble.

She and William were supposed to meet there at 8 to catch a ferry to leave, from which they'd leave to Calais. Eight turned to 8.30. No sign of William. 8.30 turned to 9. Arbella's companions were getting restless. They pleaded with her to just leave down the river with the friend ship captain who was ready to take them. Just a little bit longer, Arbella begged. At 9.30, Arbella finally left the inn they were staying at,

and slowly they made their way down to Leith, where they boarded the boat they had reserved to take them to France. But again, William was nowhere to be seen. Again, Arabella begged for the team to linger just a little bit longer. The boat was boarded, ready to go, and soon the winds were going to change and keep them from leaving at all. But Arabella refused to leave without her husband. William actually had made his escape from the Tower of London, as they had planned. Wearing an apron, a wig, and a big, bushy, fake beard,

William had disguised himself as a caterer and made it onto a horse. But there had been trouble, and he'd been held up, and hadn't been able to make the rendezvous at Blackwater. And so he had found his own ship to take him to Leith. But when he heard about the changing winds, he bribed the ship to take him straight to Calais in France. He figured that Arabella would meet him there. Williams' escape from the Tower of London made its way to King James, who sent his men to give chase. They didn't find William, but they did find Arabella, still aboard her ship. waiting for her husband who was already gone.

By then the wind had changed and they couldn't outrun the English ships coming to capture her. The English ships fired and Arabella surrendered. Arabella was imprisoned in the Tower of London where she fell ill and refused all food and care. She died five years later, amaciated and alone. A princess in a tower, imagining that her husband, husband would come and rescue her. He never did. That's it for this story of Arabella Stewart,

but stick around after a brief sponsor break to hear a little bit more. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Wodom. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network, it's Will Ferrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with him one day, and I was And dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet.

Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be.

Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks Dad on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. You can have opinions. You can have like a strong stance. And then there's your body having its own program. I'm Dr. Maya Shunker, a cognitive scientist and hosts of the podcast a slight change of plans, a show about who we are and who we become when life makes other plans.

We share stories and scientific insights to help us all better navigate these periods of turbulence and transformation. There is one finding that is consistent, and that is that our resilience rests on our relationships. I wish that I hadn't resisted for so long the need to change. We have to be willing to live with a kind of uncertainty that none of us likes. Listen to a slight change of plans on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. For one it's worth, William Seymour actually did get away to safety. From France, he traveled to Belgium and lived on the European continent for several years. After the death of James VI, Seymour asked for permission to return to England, which he was granted.

And eventually he went on to become a well-respected member of court. He had remarried and had at least eight children. Funnily enough, Seymour's second wife was Frances Devereaux, the daughter of Robert Devereaux, one of Elizabeth I's favorites. Devereaux had been that man that Arabella had been scolded for flirting with at court a lifetime ago. About 15 years before Arabella Stewart made that ill-fated decision to marry William Seymour in spite of her family's wishes. William Shakespeare wrote a play

about similar circumstances. He wrote about a woman in love with a man and a man in love with a woman, a forced exile, a faked illness and a daring escape. It's a play where missed communication and wrong timing has tragic consequences. I'm speaking, of course,

of Romeo and Juliet. But there's another slightly less well-known Shakespeare play in which a young, virtuous woman of noble blood, marries her lover only to have that marriage dismissed by the king. Coincidentally, like Arabella Stewart, the young woman in the play named Imogen is also forced to disguise herself as a man. That play is called Symbeline, and it was written in 1611.

1611, just so happens to be the exact year that Arabella Stewart made her daring escape to reunite with a man that she was finally allowed to call her husband. spend. Noble Blood is a production of IHeartRadio and Aaron Mankey. The show is written and hosted by Dana Schwartz and produced by Aaron Manke, Matt Frederick, Alex Williams, and Trevor Young. Noble Blood is on social media at Noble Blood Tales, and you can learn more about the show over at Noble Blood Tales.com.

For more podcasts from IHeartRadio, visit the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Wode. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot. But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit.

If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot in luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.