Leicester, Robert Dudley, Earl of, Queen Elizabeth's favourite, fifth son of the Duke of Northumberland; won the queen's favour by his handsome appearance and courtly address; received many offices and honours, and on the death, under suspicious circumstances, of his Countess, Amy Robsart, aspired to her hand; still favoured, in spite of his unpopularity in the country, he was proposed as husband to Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1563; he married the dowager Lady Sheffield in 1573, and afterwards bigamously the Countess of Essex; after a short term of disfavour he was appointed commander in the Netherlands, and subsequently at Tilbury Fort, but proved an incapable soldier (1532-1588).
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Leicester * Leicestershire