This chapter examines the letters of Lady Arbella Stuart, Bess’s granddaughter and Mary’s niece through the marriage of Bess’s daughter Elizabeth to Charles Stuart, son of Henry VIII’s niece. If Arbella had been a boy she would have had a strong claim to the throne, but when her father died, she was not important enough to be recognised by Elizabeth as a potential successor but too important to be allowed to marry. In 1602 Arbella proposed to the earl of Hertford that she should marry his older grandson, who had royal blood through his mother, but Hertford informed the privy council, who despatched an emissary to Hardwick to investigate. Arbella remained at Hardwick under close guard until Elizabeth died and James invited her to court. But he too failed to offer her a husband, so in 1610 she contracted a secret marriage with Hertford’s younger grandson William Seymour. The king imprisoned both in the Tower, and although William escaped to France, Arbella’s attempt to join him (disguised as a boy) was frustrated when her ship was overtaken in the Channel. Sinking into despair and refusing to eat, she died in the Tower on 25 September 1615, aged 39.