The day after the failed kidnapping, Thomas Seymour was locked up in the Tower of London. Considering that he had been caught outside the king’s bedroom at night, with a loaded pistol, there was little that his older brother – or anybody else for that matter – could do to help. Thomas was charged with thirty three counts of treason, convicted, and sentenced to death. Parliament passed a Bill of Attainder against him on March 5th, 1549, and he was beheaded fifteen days later.
It is unclear if Thomas Seymour ever actually had sex with princess Elizabeth, but his conduct made it clear that he had wanted to. Like any child victimized by a predator, Elizabeth’s experience at a tender age was bound to leave some scars. When she wrote about Seymour “Let him not touch me“, it seems to have applied not just to him, but to all men. Whether or not the “Virgin Queen” ever had any lovers or was literally a virgin, she certainly never married. Her decision to stay single was probably associated, at least in part, with the sexual harassment she had been subjected to by Thomas Seymour during her formative years.
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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading
Elizabethan Era Org – Teenage Scandal of Queen Elizabeth I
Encyclopedia Britannica – Thomas Seymour, Baron Seymour
Factinate – 42 Diabolical Facts About Thomas Seymour, Henry VIII’s Scheming Courtier
Hibbert, Christopher – The Virgin Queen: Elizabeth I, Genius of the Golden Age (1992)
History Extra – Did Thomas Seymour Sexually Abuse the Teenage Princess Elizabeth?
History Jar – Elizabeth and Thomas Seymour
Jenkins, Elizabeth – Elizabeth the Great (2000)