On 26 Aug. he addressed a long and able letter to the queen on the subject of her contemplated marriage with Anjou. Nevertheless it seemed doubtful to Mendoza whether he really meant all he said. Mendoza told Philip that Sussex assured him he would never consent to it 'on condition of depriving your Majesty of the Netherlands . . . as his aim was not solely to gratify the Queen, but to preserve and strengthen her throne.' What either he or Burghley hoped to gain by the match the ambassador was at a loss to conjecture, unless they thought thereby to bring about the fall of Leicester, or perhaps in anticipation 'that if Frenchmen should come hither the country may rise, in which case, it is believed, Sussex would take a great position.' In any case, he thought it worth while to send them some jewels to the value of three thousand crowns or more apiece (ib. pp. 635, 662, 669).
The queen's predilection for Anjou gave Sussex (despite his ill-health, which obliged him frequently to leave court) an ascendency over Leicester, who opposed the match by every means within his power, and would possibly have found himself in the Tower had not Sussex generously interposed in his favour, saying, according to Lloyd (State Worthies), ' You must allow lovers their jealousie.' On 6 Nov. 1580 a commission was issued to him and others for the increase and breed of horses, particularly in Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Kent, and in April following he was appointed to treat with the French commissioners for the marriage with Anjou. It was probably this latter appointment which led in July to a renewal of hostilities between him and Leicester, and obliged the queen to command them both to keep their chambers, and to threaten stricter confinement in case of further disobedience (cf. Cal. State Papers, Dom. Eliz. ii. 22). On 1 Jan. 1582 he was one of the challengers in the royal combat on foot which took place before the queen and the Duc d'Anjou.
His malady rapidly increased during the following winter, and, having in vain sought relief from the baths at Buxton, he died, after a lingering illness, at his house at Bermondsey on 9 June 1583. His last hours were embittered by the reflection that his death would leave Leicester undisputed master of the situation: 'I am now,' he said, 'passing into another world, and must leave you to your fortunes and to the queen's graces; but beware of the gypsie, for he will be too hard for you all: you know not the beast so well as I do' (Naunton, Fragmenta Regalia). His bowels were buried in the church at Bermondsey, and on 8 July his body was taken to Boreham in Essex, where he had a magnificent funeral. His body was buried in a red brick building adjoining the church of Boreham, called the Sussex chancel, where also repose the remains of his father, mother, grandfather, and grandmother, which were removed thither, pursuant to his testamentary directions, from the place of their first sepulture, St. Laurence Pountney in London. On a large altar tomb in the Sussex chancel are recumbent figures in memory of Robert, Henry, and Thomas Radcliffe, successively earls of Sussex, with commemorative tablets.
Sussex made it his boast that he never faltered in obedience to his sovereign, and no doubt of his patriotism is permissible. A perfect courtier and diplomatist, he was at the same time a scholar saturated in the new learning, a patron of the drama in its infancy, and of rising literary genius, and was able to regard with tolerance those diversities of creed which were setting Europe by the ears. To men of sterner mould he at times appeared Machiavellian in the methods by which he sought to achieve his ends. His portrait was painted by Sir Antonio More and Zucchero. A third portrait, by an anonymous artist, is in the National Portrait Gallery (cf. Cat. Tudor Exhibition, No. 358, 1109; Cat. First Loan Exhibition of Portraits, 1866, Nos. 136, 139, 256).
Sussex married, first, Elizabeth Wriothesley, daughter of Thomas, earl of Southampton, who was buried at Woodham Walter on 16 Jan. 1555; and, secondly, on 26 April , 1555, Frances, daughter of Sir William Sidney (Chester, London Marriage Licenses), who died on 9 March 1588-9, leaving by her will 5,000l. for the foundation of a college at Cambridge' to be called the Lady Frances Sidney-Sussex College' (Willis and Clarke, Archit. Hist, of Cambridge, pp. lxxix et seq.) The bequest was carried out by her executors, and the foundation of the college was laid in 1596. It possesses an anonymous portrait of the foundress. He left no heirs of his body, and was succeeded by his brother.
Henry Radcliffe, fourth Earl of Sussex (1530?-1593), was knighted by the Earl of Arundel on 2 Oct. 1553, and sat in parliament as member for Malden in 1555. Next year he removed to Ireland, to aid his brother, in the civil and military organisation of that country. He was appointed a privy councillor in 1557, and commanded a band of horsemen. In 1558 he became lieutenant of Maryborough Fort, and was besieged there by the native Irish under Donogh O'Conor. He sat in the Irish parliament as member for Carling-
