ABSTRACT
The young Dorothy caught the eye of the much older Frederick Henry who had accompanied his nephew, the Elector Palatine, from the Low Countries to the Stuart court. Dorothy had married the down-to-earth, studious Robert Sidney, a man accustomed to spending his days abroad as diplomat in Denmark, and later France. She led a relatively solitary existence, from 1623 running the country estate of Penshurst in his absence. The search for a suitable match for Doll was much aided by Dorothy’s taking up residence in London in order to oversee the construction of Leicester House, the license for which had been granted in 1631. Leicester House, constructed in lavish style in what is now London’s Leicester Square, was something of a double-edged sword for Dorothy. John Rusworth relates how Pym stood up in the House stating he had “private intimation from the Countess of Carlisle that endeavours would be used this day to apprehend” him and his four companions.
