Robert Dudley

Sir Robert Dudley (1574–1649) was the illegitimate son of Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester (1532/3–1588), and Douglas Sheffield (née Howard), Lady Sheffield (1542/3–1608). A naval explorer, he left in England for the continent in 1605 and converted to Catholicism, where he also adopted the titles of Warwick and Leicester (used in his letter to Bellarmine) which his illegitimate birth had denied him.^[1]

↑ Adams, S. (2008, January 03). Dudley, Sir Robert (1574–1649), mariner and landowner. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

[1] Adams, S. (2008, January 03). Dudley, Sir Robert (1574–1649), mariner and landowner. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

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