Although she never married, Queen Elizabeth I always had at least one man at the center of her universe, usually in the person of a "court favorite." For most of her reign, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester--Queen Elizabeth's lifelong love--filled that role. After his death his stepson, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, stepped in to fill Leicester's shoes.

 Essex was dashing, chivalrous, popular, and spoiled. More than once he presumed on the Queen's good graces, stepping beyond borders that would have landed any other man in prison. On various occasions he ignored royal protocol, defied the Queen's orders in battle, and even challenged her position as England's sovereign ruler, but she always softened and allowed him back into her closest circle.

But on February 8, 1601, Essex committed an act of rebellion so brazen that even he could not be forgiven. When he led over 100 men, mostly soldiers left over from his expedition against Ireland, through the streets of London toward Whitehall Palace, he confirmed the accusations of his enemies and the suspicions of the Queen that he was a traitor. Though he protested his innocence throughout his trial, he was convicted of treason and sentenced to be drawn and quartered. The Queen commuted his sentence to beheading and signed his death warrant, but her love for him was such that she never recovered from his death.

The nature of that love has been a subject of speculation over the years, including everything from a romantic attachment to a love-hate relationship rooted in the trauma of Elizabeth's father, King Henry VIII, having ordered the beheading of her mother, Anne Boleyn. The conclusions drawn in Greensleeves are among the theories of what Elizabeth felt about Essex and why his rebellion had such a profound effect on her last few years.