On 25th February 1601 Robert Devereux 2nd Earl of Essex was executed for treason. The story is told in the 1939 film, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, starring Bette Davis and Errol Flynn. The story is also told in The Spy who Sank the Armada, my first novel which is an only slightly fictionalised biography of Sir Anthony Standen, the elder brother of my 10th great-grandfather. It is also told in The Golden Lads by Daphne du Maurier. The golden lads were Francis and Anthony Bacon, who were great friends of Essex.
Anthony Bacon was Standen’s spy controller, and Standen stayed with the Bacon brothers when he returned to England after his period of imprisonment in Bordeaux, at the hands of Catherine de Medici. Standen accompanied Essex on his voyages to Cadiz, and later the Azores.
Essex had been a favourite of Queen Elizabeth. However he disobeyed Elizabeth’s orders on the Azores voyage, by going after the Spanish treasure fleet without first dealing with their battle fleet. Standen also accompanied Essex to Ireland when Elizabeth sent him there to quell the Irish rebels led by Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone. Despite leading the largest force ever sent to Ireland, 16,000 men, Essex failed to quell the rebellion. He returned to England, against the queen’s orders. Essex faced several trials, each one inciting further rebellion in him, until he marched into London to force an audience with the queen, and Sir Robert Cecil declared him a traitor.
Sadly there was no part for Sir Anthony Standen in the 1939 film, nor for Anthony bacon. Francis Bacon is played by Donald Crisp and Sir Robert Cecil is played by Henry Daniell. Sir Walter Raleigh was Essex’s second in command on the Azores voyage, and he was played by Vincent Price in the film.