Keyes' cousin, Nicholas Crispe,[7] was elected at the same time, and both were fined for absence from the House in the parliamentary session in early 1555, and prosecuted in the court of King's Bench in Easter term of that year, where they also failed to appear.

[11] Keyes's first wife had died, and on the evening of 16 July 1565,[12] while the Queen was absent attending the wedding of her kinsman[13] Sir Henry Knollys (d. 21 December 1582), and Margaret Cave, the daughter of Sir Ambrose Cave,[14] in his chamber by the Watergate at Westminster Keyes secretly married the Queen's kinswoman Lady Mary Grey, one of the three daughters of Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Frances Brandon.

[15] Upon hearing that the wedding had taken place, the Queen is said to have declared wrathfully that "I'll have no little bastard Keyes laying claim to my throne",[citation needed] while Sir William Cecil observed that the secret marriage was "an unhappy chance & monstrous".

Apart from the disparity in their social positions, Keyes stood 6 feet 8 inches tall, while the Lady Mary was described by the Spanish ambassador as "little, crook-backed and very ugly".

On 21 December Keyes again wrote to Cecil, complaining of his harsh treatment in the Fleet, and in particular that he had become ill, having been served meat for his dinner which had been steeped in a liquid used to treat the prison's dogs for mange.

On 6 October 1568, a free man, he wrote to Cecil from Lewisham, stating that he would rather die in the Queen's service than end his days banished from her presence.

[19] In 1569, he was re-appointed captain of Sandgate Castle when England was threatened by a French-Spanish alliance,[citation needed] and, on 7 May 1570, he wrote to Archbishop Matthew Parker asking him to intercede for him with the Queen, again requesting that he might be permitted to live with his wife.