The Rose and Ragged Staff — Jean Evans

Elizabeth and Leicester, the Rose and Ragged Staff. These two loved passionately all their lives, yet were never lovers. Their story is one of fear and ambition. A Queen dogged by terror of the marriage bed and a man who loved her but could never escape the past and the memory of Jane Grey, the girl raised by his own father to sit so briefly on the throne of England.

So often Leicester came close to winning Elizabeth. Always she evaded him, driving him away despite her need for love. It was inevitable that he should seek consolation elsewhere, and so, two other women came into his life. The enchanting vivacious Lettice Knollys and Douglass Sheffield, who was to bear him a son after their secret marriage. Both ladies were Princesses of the Blood, both had reason to fear the Queen's anger.