Characters & Actors
The Earl of Sussex
The Earl of Sussex perfectly personifies the duplicitous nature of politics in Tudor England. He survived unscathed through the various reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary Tudor and, despite his role in Elizabeth's interrogation in the Tower, goes on to become one of her close advisers too.
"He was obviously fairly useful in some respects to her otherwise she wouldn't have kept him around," muses Dexter. "After all, in the beginning he's very much in Mary's camp and he and Gardiner are threatening Elizabeth, trying to get her to confess her complicity in a plot to take her sister's life."
Fortunately for Sussex, the Lord Chancellor was a much more ruthless interrogator and bore the brunt of Elizabeth's revenge, allowing Dexter's character to seamlessly switch sides.
"The Queen was surrounded by these very strong men but at the same time she was smarter than all of them to be able to control her life, and keep control of it, herself. We're all trying to manipulate her, trying to get her to go our way, to do what we think is best. We have alliances and allegiances with each other, there are factions and divides, and she just rides right through the middle of it all and we fall away accordingly."
But Sussex uses all the political wiles garnered through his experience of four monarchs to ensure that he always bounces back.
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