According to Simon Renard and Hugues Cousin le Vieux, it was said that Henry Dudley had taken numerous jewels and rings from the royal treasury to reward potential supporters.

Although Dudley returned home with only the vaguest of assurances, even Pope Paul was ill-disposed toward the English Queen Mary because of her marriage into the powerful Habsburg family and that same month signed a secret treaty with Henry II against Spanish dominion.

Philip had received a letter confirming that given the mood of the English Parliament even down to the people discontent was such that there was scant chance of him also being crowned in England at the same time or in the near future.

Had the plot not been discovered, its intention was to remove Mary to exile in Spain where she could be happily reunited with King Philip and to bring about the succession of Elizabeth to the English throne.

Bold and righteous as it was, it proved too daring for most of the English gentry, who failed to lend it their support, "feebly, but not without some expectation, waiting for time to dispatch the evil Queen".

It appears that once revealed the plot dissolved and Henry Dudley remained at large in France, his great scheme undermined by careless talk and too unwieldy an organisation.