Fed up of being ignored Arabella decided to sneak along to The Tower to see her husband. But the King found out and he banished her. But Arabella was not going to be parted from her lover and she daringly hatched another plan. 

First Arabella pretended to be ill and persuaded her Doctor to bring her to his house in London. On the appointed day she disguised herself as a man, snuck through the back garden, jumped on a horse and escaped. Meanwhile her husband William escaped from the Tower. His cunning escapade was reported by the Venetian ambassador:

'Seymour escaped from the Tower by the help of his barber, who bandaged a leg, put on a false beard and otherwise disguising himself, and came to the Tower and asked for the barber, that was for himself. He was told the barber was there. He went in and Seymour disguised himself in the barber's clothes and both went out together; nor did the guards raise any difficulty as they took him for the man who had just gone in; nor did they say anything to the barber, for he was accustomed to go in and out almost daily.'

The plan was for Arabella and William to meet up in Blackwall. But when Arabella arrived William wasn’t there. She waited for him but it grew too dangerous and her servants pleaded with her to get on board. But she’d delayed too long. As her ship approached Calais the English authorities caught up with her and she was rearrested and taken to the Tower. Meanwhile William had caught another ship and made it to safety at a Belgium port. 

Arabella was imprisoned in a room in the Tower of London. She wrote letters pleading with the King to release her but he ignored her. Neither did her husband William write. As the months became years, Arabella started to lose hope and became ill. The conditions of her imprisonment were harsh and weren’t relaxed even when she got sick, because Lieutenant Waad believed that her death would be welcomed by the King. As the years went by, the strain of imprisonment, sometimes in solitary confinement, her abandonment by her husband and the King was unbearable.

When a final hopeless plan to escape failed, she gave up hope. Having spent 5 years in prison, Arabella couldn’t face any more. She climbed into bed, refused her food and medicine, and over the next few months slowly killed herself. She died on 25 September 1615. When William heard that his wife was dead, he wrote to King James for a pardon and asked to return home. His wish was granted. Six months after Arabella died he remarried.