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Thursday 23 June 2022

My guest today: Tony Riches - Raleigh – Tudor Adventurer (The Elizabethan Series, Book 3)


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How Raleigh rose to fame

by Tony Riches

For my Elizabethan series I chose three very different favourites of the queen, who each saw different sides of her personality. Sir Francis Drake showered her with gold and jewels, stolen from the Spanish, in return for the status he longed for. The Earl of Essex was like the errant son she never had, but Raleigh became her protector, Captain of the Guard, and lived to see the last days of the Tudor dynasty.

Much has been written about Sir Walter Raleigh’s downfall, but less is known about his early life, and how he rose to fame. When I began my research I read ‘A Woman of Noble Wit’, a new novel by Rosemary Griggs, about Raleigh’s mother. This led me to explore Walter Raleigh’s relationship with his father, as well as his mother, an aspect of him largely ignored by historical biographers.

The youngest of five sons, Raleigh’s father, also named Walter, had been married twice before he met Raleigh’s mother, Katherine, who came from the well-respected Champernowne family. Her elder sister was Kat Ashley, who’d been governess to the young princess, and was a royal favourite when Elizabeth became queen. As far as I could tell. Young Walter was closer to his mother than his father, who owned a small fleet of merchant ships and was often away at sea.

Like many in the area, the family were Protestant, with a distrust of Catholics, and not well off, as their home at Hayes Barton in Devon was rented. Young Walter may have been tutored by the parish cleric and taught to read and write by his mother, who encouraged his love of poetry. At seventeen he followed his cousin to France on his first adventure, fighting with the Huguenots in civil war. He later wrote of how he nearly starved in one of the worst winters for many years, and the futility of the experience left its mark on him.

When he returned, Raleigh became an undergraduate at Oriel College in Oxford, but failed to focus in his studies, and was sent to study law in London. He found the strict discipline at the Inns of Court stifling, and persuaded his half-brother, explorer Sir Humphrey Gilbert, to give him a place on a sea voyage to the New World as an unpaid ‘adventurer’, with a share of any profits.

Raleigh proved a poor sailor, and almost died of fever at the Cape Verde islands. He returned to London and used his contacts to secure a junior commission with the English army in Ireland. This was a formative time for Raleigh, as he was chosen to carry dispatches back to Westminster, where he met Sir Francis Walsingham, principal secretary to the queen, and her secret ‘spymaster’.

  

Sir Francis Walsingham
(Wikimedia Commons)

Raleigh was ambitious, and articulate, and saw a route to a place in the Elizabethan Court. He began to share his first-hand information on the situation in Ireland with Walsingham, and eventually his ideas on how Lord Treasurer, Lord Burghley, could reduce the escalating costs of the Irish occupation. They must have seen some potential in him, for both used their influence to help his career, and he was eventually appointed Captain of the Queen’s Guard.

I found many of the details of Raleigh’s life in his surviving letters, which as well as describing his adventures and disasters, are some of the best examples of the Elizabethan period. They reveal his strengths and weaknesses, as a courtier and failed politician, soldier and poet, a man ready to speak up for the poor and to honour his debts. My hope is that my new book, Raleigh – Tudor Adventurer, will help readers see beyond the myths and half-truths, and have a better understanding of the man who has been called the last true Elizabethan.

© Tony Riches


About the Book

Raleigh – Tudor Adventurer
(The Elizabethan Series, Book 3)
By Tony Riches

Tudor adventurer, courtier, explorer and poet, Sir Walter Raleigh has been called the last true Elizabethan. He didn’t dance or joust, didn’t come from a noble family, or marry into one. So how did an impoverished law student become a favourite of the queen, and Captain of the Guard?

The story which began with the best-selling Tudor trilogy follows Walter Raleigh from his first days at the Elizabethan Court to the end of the Tudor dynasty.

Available on #KindleUnlimited.
Universal Link: mybook.to/Raleigh
Amazon UK: 
Amazon US: 
Amazon CA: 
Amazon AU: 


About the Author
Tony Riches is a full-time UK author of best-selling historical fiction. He lives in Pembrokeshire, West Wales and is a specialist in the lives of the Tudors. He also runs the popular Stories of the Tudorspodcast, and posts book reviews, author interviews and guest posts at his blog, The Writing Desk. For more information about Tonys books please visit his website tonyriches.com and find him on Facebook and Twitter @tonyriches

Social Media Links:
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Follow the Tour

Twitter Handles: @tonyriches @maryanneyarde

Instagram Handles: @tonyriches.author @coffeepotbookclub

Hashtags: #Elizabethan #Tudors #HistoricalFiction #BlogTour #CoffeePotBookClub

Tour Schedule Page: https://maryanneyarde.blogspot.com/2022/04/blog-tour-raleigh-tudor-adventurer.html



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You might also like 

books written by Helen Hollick 

Website: https://helenhollick.net/

Amazon Author Page: https://viewauthor.at/HelenHollick 

~~ ~ ~ ~ 

THE SAXON SERIES
the events that led to 1066
the Battle of Hastings

1066 - the events that led to the
Battle of Hastings
from Amazon
Harold the King  (UK edition)
I Am The Chosen King (US/Canada edition)
1066 Turned Upside Down -
an anthology of alternative stories

* * *
Tony has a story included in this anthology
Amazon: FREE ebook!
(includes a story by Tony Riches) 

Plus many more...
fiction, non-fiction


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