Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, KG (c. 1530 – 21 February 1590) was an English nobleman and general, and an elder brother of Queen Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Their father was John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, who led the English government from 1550-1553 under King Edward VI and unsuccessfully tried to establish Lady Jane Grey on the English throne after the King's death in July 1553. For his participation in this venture, Ambrose Dudley was imprisoned in the Tower of London and condemned to death. Reprieved, his rehabilitation came after he fought for King Philip in the Battle of St. Quentin.
On Queen Elizabeth's accession in November 1558, Dudley was appointed Master of the Ordnance, in which capacity he was to unofficially assist William the Silent in his struggle against Spain by delivering English weaponry. As the senior member of his family, Dudley was created Earl of Warwick in December 1561. In 1562–1563 he commanded the army Elizabeth sent to Le Havre to garrison the town and assist the Huguenots in the First French War of Religion. This campaign ended in failure when the French belligerents agreed to a peace and the English surrendered because of the plague which was decimating their ranks. Dudley, who had acted honorably throughout, returned with a severe leg wound which was to hinder his further career and ultimately led to his death 27 years later. His last military engagement was against the Northern rebels in 1569. From 1573 he served as a privy councillor.
Despite being married three times, Ambrose Dudley had no surviving children; an infant daughter died in 1552. This had serious repercussions for the survival of his dynasty, since his only surviving brother, Robert, equally died without legitimate issue. With him, Ambrose Dudley had a very close relationship, and in business and personal life they did many things together. Like Robert Dudley, Ambrose was a major patron of the Elizabethan Puritan movement and supported non-conforming preachers in their struggle with the Church authorities. Due to his homely way of life — and in contrast to the colourful Earl of Leicester — Ambrose Dudley became known to posterity as the "Good Earl of Warwick".
Ambrose Dudley was the fourth son of Sir John Dudley, later Viscount Lisle, Earl of Warwick and Duke of Northumberland, and his wife Jane Guildford. The Dudleys had 13 children in all and were known for their Protestant leanings as well as for their happy family life. Ambrose Dudley and his brothers were trained by, among others, the mathematician John Dee and the rhetorician Thomas Wilson. In August 1549, Dudley went to Norfolk with his father and his younger brother Robert to fight against the rebel peasant army of Robert Kett. Back in London, Dudley was knighted and married Anne Whorwood, daughter of William Whorwood, deceased Attorney-General. In 1552, they had a daughter who died soon. Anne also died in 1552, of the sweating sickness. Dudley soon married for the second time: Elizabeth, Lady Tailboys (or Talboys, 1520–1563), who was a baroness in her own right with large possessions in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.
After the death of King Edward VI on 6 July 1553, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, who had led the young king's government for the last three and a half years, tried to install his daughter-in-law Lady Jane Grey on the English throne; she was the King's Protestant cousin to whom Edward had willed the Crown, bypassing his half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth. When Mary Tudor asserted her right to the throne, an expedition against her base in East Anglia became inevitable. Northumberland marched on 14 July, accompanied by his eldest sons, John and Ambrose. Five days later the Privy Council changed sides; on hearing this on 20 July, Northumberland, who had been staying at Cambridge, gave up and was arrested with his party the next day.
Ambrose Dudley was imprisoned in the Tower of London with his father and his four brothers. All were attainted and condemned to death, but only the Duke and Guildford Dudley, the second youngest brother, were executed. After the natural death of John, the eldest brother, in October 1554, Ambrose Dudley was the family's heir; he remained longest in the Tower, being released late in 1554 after a plea by his wife, Lady Tailboys. On the whole, the brothers' release was brought about by their mother and their brother-in-law Henry Sidney, who successfully lobbied the Spanish nobles around Queen Mary I's new husband and co-ruler, Philip of Spain. Out of prison, in December 1554 or January 1555, Ambrose and Robert Dudley took part in one of several tournaments held by Philip to celebrate Anglo-Spanish friendship.
Also in January 1555, Dudley's mother died, leaving him her lands, which Queen Mary allowed him to inherit despite his attainder. However, the Dudley brothers were only welcome at court as long as King Philip was there; later in 1555 they were even ordered out of London and the next year, in the wake of a conspiracy by their second cousin Sir Henry Dudley, the French ambassador Antoine de Noailles reported that the government was seeking to apprehend "the children of the Duke of Northumberland", who were said to be on the run. By January 1557, the brothers were raising personal contingents in order to fight for Philip, now also King of Spain. Ambrose, Robert, and Henry Dudley joined the Spanish forces in France and took part in the Battle of St Quentin, where Henry Dudley was killed. For these services, the two surviving brothers were restored in blood by Act of Parliament in 1558. The cost of the campaign almost bankrupted Ambrose Dudley and his wife, however, so that they had to reduce their household significantly.
With the accession of Elizabeth I in November 1558, Robert Dudley came into great favour and was made Master of the Horse. Ambrose Dudley received the post of Master of the Ordnance, though he pressed his influential brother to delay the appointment somewhat, so that he could not be held accountable for his predecessor's embezzlement of funds. When their attainder had been lifted in 1558, the Dudley brothers had renounced any rights to their father's possessions or titles. Yet on 25 and 26 December 1561, Ambrose Dudley was created Baron Lisle and Earl of Warwick, and the next year received a large portion of the lands confiscated from the Duke of Northumberland. Warwick Castle—which the Queen visited on her 1572 summer progress—became his seat, while the neighbouring Kenilworth Castle became that of Robert Dudley. Like their father, Ambrose and Robert Dudley adopted the bear and ragged staff, the heraldic device of the medieval Earls of Warwick.
In 1562 the First War of Religion started in France, and Elizabeth was under pressure from her Protestant councillors to help the Huguenots. These were in possession of Le Havre, which was besieged by the Roman Catholic Duke of Guise, and the Huguenots offered it to the English in return for military help—later, they promised, they would exchange it for Calais, which England had lost to France only in 1558. Elizabeth agreed to send 6,000 men to garrison Le Havre. Ambrose Dudley was chosen to lead the expedition, in place of Robert Dudley, whom Elizabeth would not let go despite his strong desire to do so.
Warwick arrived at Le Havre in late October 1562. He was sceptical from the start as to the chances of holding the town, writing: "I fear [you] are too much abused in the good opinion you have in the strength of this town". Elizabeth soon made it clear that she did not wish the English army to engage in any active support for the Huguenot side, the purpose of the English contribution remaining somewhat obscure. In March 1563, the warring French agreed to a peace, while Elizabeth decided to hold on to Le Havre until Calais was returned to the English, as had been agreed with the Huguenot party. The reconciled French, however, turned jointly against the English garrison. Le Havre's fortifications would have needed major expansion and repair to withstand a prolonged siege. Still, Dudley tried his best until the town's walls were crumbling under French bombardment. The Queen permitted him to surrender honourably in July 1563 on account of the plague that was decimating his troops. Ambrose Dudley himself had been shot in the leg when parleying with the French and returned to England seriously ill. He wrote to his brother that he was happy "rather to end my life upon the breach than in any sickness... Farewell my dear and loving brother, a thousand times." Robert Dudley went to welcome him at Portsmouth despite the plague and much to Elizabeth's annoyance.