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
Francis Throckmorton Francis Throckmorton Sir Francis Throckmorton (1554July 1584) was a conspirator against Queen Elizabeth I of England in the Throckmorton Plot. He was the son of Sir John Throckmorton, the seventh out of eight sons of Sir George Throckmorton of Coughton Court. He was a nephew of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, one of Elizabeth's diplomats, who had held the post of Chief Justice of Chester but was removed in 1579, a year before his death. His paternal grandmother, Hon. Katherine Vaux, daughter of Nicholas Vaux, 1st Baron Vaux of Harrowden, was the paternal aunt of the Protestant queen consort of King Henry