One of our followers wrote about WALTER RALEGH

I love interaction with all of the followers so one of our followers Damon Otero wrote this about SIR WALTER RALEGH:  (there is a question below from the admin, Anthony)

(Beginning) Here are a few interesting facts about Sir Walter in his early life up to meeting Queen Elizabeth I:

SIR WALTER RALEGH or Raleigh was born in Devonshire, England in 1552, though the date is not quite certain. Actual birth records were established in the year 1555. The spelling of his last name used in those days was rather erratic and "Raleigh" is just one of the over 40 ways in which his surname was written. He used numerous spellings, with "Rawleigh", "Ralegh" and "Rawley" being more often used than the currently accepted version. His name was pronounced "raw lie" and it is said he is never known to have used the modern "Raleigh" spelling.

Sir Walter Raleigh was a true man of the renaissance.  He has been romantically described as a Soldier, Courtier, Scholar, Explorer, Man of Science, that it is easy to overlook other descriptions such as Self-Seeking Opportunist (The cloak on the puddle incident), Royal Flatterer, and Large-Scale Pirate.(Stealing from Spanish Merchant ships).

He was a member of a leading Protestant family and hated the Catholic Church. Sir Francis Drake was a distant relative. Although not well-off, his father had high ambitions for him and scraped and saved to send him to be educated at Oxford. Here, young Walter was a very popular student and excelled in his studies.

Information of his life in the immediate years after Oxford are not known, though he seems to have taken up soldiering on the Continent and offered his services to the French and the Dutch. He returned to London, England to study Law and settled down into a Law Career. But his heart wasn't much into it and he set aside his studies to accompany his half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, in a royal-sanctioned expedition to the New World.
 
Raleigh first came to the attention of Elizabeth I in 1580, when he went to Ireland to help suppress an uprising in Munster.  Walter Raleigh returned to London and presented himself at Queen Elizabeth's court.  The Queen, a noted flirt, had an eye for tall (6 foot tall), very handsome young men and Raleigh shrewdly did everything humanly possible to keep himself in her sight.  He soon became a favorite of the queen.  He certainly did gain in her esteem and garnered all the special concessions and benefits due to a Queen's favorite; knighthood, a grand home in London, estates in Ireland and Dorset, and business privileges.  These soon made him a very wealthy man and was knighted and appointed Captain of the Queen's Guard. He became a member of parliament in 1584.

He was noted for his courtly manners and was reputed to have placed his cloak over a puddle in order to prevent Queen Elizabeth I from muddying her shoes. (This act whether fact or fiction is depicted in numerous movies) The story of the cloak and the mud puddle probably originated with English historian Thomas Fuller, known for his imaginative elaborations on historical fact.

In 1584 Sir Walter Raleigh's fleet of seven vessels with 108 men, reaches Roanoke Island in June.

1585 January 6: Queen Elizabeth makes him governor of the new territory. Raleigh names it "Virginia" in her honor.   (End)

*From Anthony:

If you have any questions or want more info, feel free to comment.  We urge follower participation!
My questions is, who was the Queen most fond of Raleigh, Leicester, or Essex?? Let us know what you think and why???