Raleigh's El Dorado Expedition Portuguese possessions and shipping, and conduct illicit trading. Sir Walter Raleigh had enjoyed several years of high esteem from Queen Elizabeth I, which stemmed in part from his previous exploits at sea which included the famous Capture of the Madre de Deus. Soon after, however, Raleigh suffered a short imprisonment for secretly marrying one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, Elizabeth Throckmorton, and bearing her a child. In a bid to restore his influence with the Queen, Raleigh, having promised a "gold-rich empire more lucrative than Peru", had set up an expedition under John Whiddon to find the fabled city of gold
Clement Throckmorton (died 1573) Clement Throckmorton (died 1573) Clement Throckmorton (ca. 1512 – 1573) was an English landowner and Member of Parliament in the middle years of the 16th century. A member of a distinguished Warwickshire family, son of Sir George Throckmorton and his wife Catherine Vaux (daughter of Nicholas Vaux and Elizabeth FitzHugh) and the brother of the influential diplomat Sir Nicholas Throckmorton and Robert Throckmorton and cousin of Henry VIII's last Queen, Catherine Parr, Throckmorton sat in nine Parliaments between 1542 and 1572, representing Warwick four times and Warwickshire twice as well as three other scattered boroughs (Devizes, Sudbury and West Looe).