The flight of Lady Arabella Stuart dressed as a man, 1611
Illustration from Cassell's illustrated history of England published circa 1896. Info from wiki: Lady Arbella Stuart was an English noblewoman who was for some time considered a possible successor to Queen Elizabeth I of England. In 1610, Arbella, who was fourth in line to the English throne, was in trouble for planning to marry William Seymour, who was sixth-in-line,The King wondered whether the marriage was the prelude to an attempt to seize the Crown itself. The couple married in secret on 22 June 1610. For marrying without his permission, King James imprisoned them: Arbella in Sir Thomas Perry's house in Lambeth and Seymour in the Tower of London. The King ordered Arbella's transfer to the custody of William James, Bishop of Durham. Arbella claimed to be ill, so her departure for Durham was delayed. The couple used that delay to plan their escape. Arbella dressed as a man and escaped to Lee, but Seymour did not meet her there before their getaway ship was to sail for France. Seymour did escape from the Tower, but by the time he reached Lee, Arbella was gone, so he caught the next ship to Flanders. Arbella's ship was overtaken by King James's men just before it reached Calais, France. She was returned to England and imprisoned in the Tower of London. She never saw her husband again and died in the Tower on 25 September 1615 from illnesses exacerbated by her refusal to eat. Imogen, heroine of Shakespeare's play Cymbeline may be a reference to her.
Size: 3829px × 5105px
Photo credit: © Historical Images Archive / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 25, 1611, 1615, 17th, arabella, british, captured, century, died, dressed, eat, england, english, engraving, escaping, exacerbated, family, fear, flight, fourth, france, history, illnesses, illustration, image, imprisoned, james, jealousy, king, kings, lady, line, london, man, married, marrying, paranoia, permission, picture, plot, refusal, returned, royal, royals, royalty, secretly, seize, september, seymour, sixth--line, stewart, stuart, suspected, throne, tower, upset, william
