On 10 February 1604, Lettice Knollys, Dowager Countess of Leicester, filed a bill in the Court of the Star Chamber against Sir Robert Dudley, the illegitimate but acknowledged son of her second husband Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Dudley, also known as "Robin Sheffield", had disputed that he was not of illegitimate birth, but rather that he was born from a legal union between his parents - Leicester and his one time paramour Douglas Howard, Lady Sheffield.

At the beginning of December 1608, Elizabethan courtier Douglas Howard, Lady Sheffield, died, at approximately sixty-five years old. On 11 December 1608, she was buried at St Margaret's Church, Westminster, as requested in her will, "by my sister Dudley".

The marriage between Lettice and Leicester was formally celebrated on Sunday 21 September 1578, at Leicester's Essex home of Wanstead Hall, almost two years to the date of death of her first husband. Leicester had consulted with his chaplain at Wanstead, Humphrey Tyndall, informing of his intent to marry Lettice in secret, as he felt that public knowledge of their marriage may cause "great damage to his estate", having not previously obtained the consent of the queen (Tallis,

On This Day (07 Aug) in 1574, Robert Dudley, also known as ‘Robin Sheffield’, was born - the ‘illegitimate’ son of Robert Dudley.