A younger brother of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, he served in Henry VIII's navy and obtained court offices under Edward VI.

[2] Answering a complaint against exchequer activities in October 1540, Norfolk told the Privy Council that the only two people he had ever found jobs for were Andrew Dudley and Edward Belingeham.

[4] In early 1547 Protector Somerset, the English regent, was contemplating to take up the War of the Rough Wooing once more to press home the agreed marriage of Edward VI and Mary Queen of Scots.

[7] On 7 March he captured one of the Scottish principal ships, the Great Lion off Dover,[8] giving her a broadside from the Pauncey (correctly the Pensée, sometimes called the Pansy).

Dudley was told to lay up the Pauncey and other ships for repair; he was to release his Scottish prisoners, except notables, "gentlemen of estimation", and 40 sailors judged to be the best seamen and pilots.

[13] The lairds, who became known as the "Castilians", signed a contract with Dudley, according to which they were to receive English aid to hold the castle against the Scottish government: for the better ... surity of themselves and His Majesty's friends in Scotland and the advancement and perfection of the said marriage [as well as] a perpetual peace, unity and ... natural love between both the realms.

Dudley also struck a bargain with Lord Gray, a disaffected Scottish noble who owned Broughty Castle, a fortress near Dundee.

Dudley complained to Somerset in October 1547 that "as for soldiers, there was never man had so weak a company, given all to eating and drinking and slothfulness", though, "the house stands well".

[18] Re-fortification was supervised by a resident Italian engineer, Master John Rossetti,[17] and included building a new platform for cannon on the roof and strengthening of the curtain wall.

[22] The trick did not work a second time on 25 January, and Wyndham's landing party in Fife encountered an ambush of 600 men; 10 soldiers were killed and 20 sailors injured.

[22] Dudley built a second fort to command Dundee in March 1548 with the engineer Master John Rossetti and Sir Thomas Palmer.

[24] On 3 April 1548, Dudley and Luttrell were instructed by the Privy Council to try to agree a yearly pension for Lord Gray at a figure between 600 and 1000 crowns.

[2] Under Edward VI, Dudley also obtained court appointments and responsibilities; a member of the Privy Chamber,[2] on 24 March 1547 he was given custody of a purse of £1435-9s-6d.

[29] Dudley's brother John ousted the Protector in October 1549, and Andrew became one of the newly created Chief Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber.

[35] In 1552 Dudley was made a Knight of the Garter;[36] at the end of the year he was sent on a diplomatic mission to discuss Edward VI's hopes to mediate for peace between the Empire and France.

[2] In April 1553, Dudley was commanded by the King to release cloth of silver and gold and velvet for the marriage of his nephew Lord Guildford to Lady Jane Grey,[41] which was celebrated on 25 May.

[42] In June, Jehan de Scheyfve reported that Dudley himself would marry Margaret Clifford, a granddaughter of Mary Tudor, Queen of France, and cousin of Lady Jane, and that he would be made Lieutenant-Governor of the North.

[43] Dudley had even reserved a number of items from the wardrobe at Westminster for the marriage, including jewels, silver and gilt cups, a hair-brush, velvet dog-collars, and a pair of pictures of Diana and Actaeon.

[47] On 21 August 1553, the day before John Dudley's execution, he appeared with him and other condemned persons at the Tower Chapel St. Peter ad Vincula to hear mass.