Was Elizabeth Wriothesley William Shakespeare’s Dark Lady?

But his wife Elizabeth (Vernon) Wriothesley, Countess of Southampton, is less often mentioned - but just as interesting.

In 1590, aged just 17, Henry Wriothesley is said to have paid £5,000 - well over £1 million today - to escape from an arranged marriage to Elizabeth Vere, a grand-daughter of Lord Burghley.

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Little is known of his love-life after that, until in 1598 when he was aged 25, Elizabeth Vernon, aged 26, discovered she was pregnant by him and they were secretly married on August 30.

Born Elizabeth Vernon in 1572, his new wife was the sister of Sir Robert Vernon, Comptroller of the Household to Queen Elizabeth I.

Among many noble connections, her paternal great-grandmother, Alice Ludlow, was the three times great-granddaughter of Henry IV through his son Humphrey Duke of Gloucester.

She was also first cousin to the Earl of Essex - possibly Queen Elizabeth’s lover, certainly at one time her favourite, and he helped procure Elizabeth a position as one of the Queen’s trusted Ladies-in-Waiting

But why was Henry and Elizabeth’s marriage secret?

The Queen was responsible for the reputation of a Lady-in-Waiting and their behaviour is reflected upon her.

They would usually not dare be without virtue, or marry without her consent.

Other suggestions are that maybe the Queen wanted Henry for herself – or even that he was her secret son.

By September 3, Queen Elizabeth had learned of the marriage and in a rage consigned Elizabeth to Fleet Prison.

She ordered Henry – who was in France – to return to England forthwith. It took two months but by the beginning of November he was also confined to the Fleet.

The couple remained there for another month, during which time Elizabeth gave birth to their daughter Penelope, and then they were released.

They were never again received into Elizabeth’s favour.

In 1601 aged 28, Henry was sentenced to death for his part in the rebellion led by Essex. Essex was executed but Henry’s sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in the Tower.

Upon his succession to the throne in 1603 James I, who had counted Essex as one of his sworn allies, immediately released Henry and made him a Knight of the Garter and Captain of the Isle of Wight.

The couple resumed their place at Court.

Both Henry and his eldest son died of a fever in November 1624, fighting in the Low Countries against the Spanish.

Elizabeth died aged 83 in 1655.

Their daughter Penelope married William 2nd Baron Spencer and is therefore the 12 x great-grandmother of William, Prince of Wales.

Both Henry and Elizabeth have interesting connections with Shakespeare.

Henry was the patron of Shakespeare, who dedicated the poems Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece to him.

It has been argued that the mysterious ‘Fair Youth’, to whom some early Shakespeare’s sonnets were addressed, was Henry and that the two had an “intimate” relationship.

It has also been suggested Romeo and Juliet was based on the love story of Henry and Elizabeth.

But Elizabeth has another claim on Shakespeare.

A number of his sonnets are addressed to an unknown woman, the target of the author’s affections, who has been christened the “Dark Lady”. But two Sonnets reveal that the Dark Lady was having an affair with the “Fair Youth”, creating a love triangle that caused Shakespeare considerable anguish.

Many attempts have been made to identify the “Dark Lady”.

A German professor, Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel, has proposed a theory that the Dark Lady was in fact Elizabeth Vernon, and that Penelope, was not Henry’s child, but Shakespeare’s.

Questions have been raised about this. Why would Henry have risked Royal displeasure by marrying Elizabeth if she was pregnant with somebody else's child?

But if it were true, it would make William, Prince of Wales, a descendant of Shakespeare.

Jack Wilson is a tour guide with SeeSouthampton.co.uk .

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