On the 6th of September 1560, Amy Robsox Dudley fell down a case of stairs at

Cumbna Place in Oxfordshire and died.

But even that simple statement bears scrutiny.

Did she fall?

Was she pushed?

Or did she throw herself down those stairs?

That was exactly the sort of question that Tudor Courtyers, servants and foreign ambassadors

were asking at the time.

It mattered because Amy was the wife of Elizabeth I's leading courteer and close friend, some

said very close friend, Robert Dudley.

Amy's death was sought by many to clear the way for the queen to marry her Robin, but

in practice, the infamous circumstances of the death precluded any royal marriage for

Dudley.

So what really happened?

Was it accident, suicide or murder?

Having started to explore this question with Dr. Joanne Paul recently for my documentary

The Royals A History of Scandals, I've invited her back onto the podcast where we have

the liberty of a little more time to discuss the case in greater detail.

It's timely indeed because Dr. Paul's acclaimed book on the Dudley family, The House of Dudley,

is released in paperback at the end of March 2023.

Here's a reader review of it that I came across on Twitter today.

I've not read a book that gives such a sense of how easy it was to rise and fall under

...