3-Year Difference

Child of Elizabeth?

"On how I determined Southampton was actually born three years earlier than we are lead to believe: a three-year time period alluded to by Prospero's discussion with Miranda in The Tempest (Act I scene 2); with Sonnet 104, which seems likely three years from Henry's birth in June. Queen Elizabeth may have been using an excuse of a ulcerous leg around the time of birth, as evidenced by The Private Character of Queen Elizabeth.

This squares with Elizabeth's fertility, as it occurred late in her 36th year, and the three years she spent deliberating before making a decision as to how to dispose of her 'baby problem'.

Of course this raises the question of how a three-year-old could impersonate a baby, but that's one of the benefits of having a monarchy. People will believe what you tell them to believe."

FROM: 'Synopsis of a Complete Theory of Shakespeare' by Alan Tarica (with his permission)