Bart Casey

In March 1581, the courtiers of Queen Elizabeth I were amazed at the spectacular fall from grace of young Anne Vavasour.  The lively and well-educated seventeen-year-old girl had seemed to be a breath of fresh air only one year before when she was placed by her family into the monarch's innermost circle as a Gentlewoman of the Bedchamber. 
 
But now she had become the prey of Edward de Vere, the 17thEarl of Oxford, who was prowling the court while estranged from his young wife Anne Cecil, the daughter of Elizabeth's chief minister Lord Burghley. Then, almost unbelievably, Anne gave birth to a baby boy in the attending maidens' chamber at court.  The queen was furious, and the couple and baby were whisked away to the Tower, becoming the delicious scandal of the year.
 
But that was not the end of Anne's remarkable career.  In fact, it was just the beginning.