The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, Good Queen Bess; Elizabeth I holds a unique place in the English imagination as one of the nation's most powerful, charismatic and successful monarchs. Elizabeth is usually imagined as the icy, untouchable figure memorably recreated on screen by Bette Davis and Judi Dench, but that vision of Elizabeth ignores the turbulent years of her early life, from her birth as the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn in 1533, until her accession to the throne in 1558 following the death of her sister Mary. It is these early years which are the subject of David Starkey's fascinating Elizabeth I, written to accompany his television series about the life of Elizabeth.

Starkey argues that in her first 25 years Elizabeth "had experienced every vicissitude of fortune and ever extreme of condition. She had been Princess and inheritrix of England, and bastard and disinherited; the nominated successor to the throne and an accused traitor on the verge of execution; showered with lands and houses and a prisoner in the Tower". He draws on his skills as a respected Tudor historian to produce a deft account of the religious, political and dynastic maelstrom of mid-16th century England that reads "like a historical thriller". The book carefully picks its way through the finer points of contemporary religious conflict and the peculiarities of Tudor court ceremony, whilst also exploring the formation of Elizabeth's character in relation to a murdered mother, a charismatic father, a tortured sister, and a predatory guardian. Highly readable and written with verve and pace, this is a fascinating account of the young Elizabeth. --Jerry Brotton

The Sometimes Princess, 05 Nov 2008
So much has been written about Queen Elizabeth I and her glorious reign, but it seems that her life prior to coronation is glossed over. This book concentrates on her birth, early childhood and adolescence. It helps to explain many of her later idiosyncracies. Her early years were uncertain and changeable. One moment Princess Elizabeth, the next just Lady Elizabeth. In adolescence, years spent in The Tower at her sisters disposition! Such a dramatic childhood and youth need a separate book dedicated solely to them. This is that book. It reads very smoothly and ends tantalisingly just as Elizabeth's reign begins. Highly recommended.

Strange, 15 Jul 2008
This is not the kind of history that I was expecting - highly populist, focussed more heavily on Elizabeth as a person than on the politics and her decisions as a Queen. Beware.

Good introduction, 16 Oct 2007
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A brilliant introduction to a fascinating life, 21 Sep 2007
This book is both extremely thorough and very readable. Not only does it illuminate an area of Elizabeth's life that so many other works on the ruler skate over,it does so in an accessible and informative manner. Elizabeth actually emerges as a real flesh and blood teenager, rather than the formidable figure, with her glownig white face and imposing dress of later years.

Very useful for those developing an interest in the Tudor monarchs.

A brilliant biography on the life of Elizabeth Tudor prior to her reign. , 30 Aug 2007
`Elizabeth' by David Starkey is a fantastic account of the life of Elizabeth Tudor prior to her accession to the English throne in 1558. As such the book examines Elizabeth's upbringing and education, along with her zeal for learning, and the occasions where she encountered danger.

Starkey examines well Elizabeth's intellectual capability and highlights how this precocious nature was not only inherited from her father (and her siblings too shared such aptitude) but also from personal enthusiasm. Not only does it appear that it gave her personal fulfilment and that overall it was enjoyable, but it was also of a means to reunite herself with her father, who had distanced himself after the execution of his second wife and Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn. Starkey also brilliantly observes that we should dismiss the traditional and fanciful idea that it was Katherine Parr who reuniting Elizabeth with her father. In fact as he points out, such a reunion occurred prior to when Katherine's marriage to Henry. Instead the reunion was formed because both father and daughter wanted it, and in the case of Elizabeth she must be credited for employing the effort to seek it.

Starkey also covers well Elizabeth's admiration for her father. We may find it hard to understand why a girl would want to have a relationship with a father who executed her own mother. But Starkey explains Elizabeth's fondness for Henry in an understandable manner. The humiliations that Elizabeth endured in her early childhood were forgotten by the time she ascended into her teens, not because she was fickle but because the harsh actions committed towards her were done when she was very young and so she may have naturally forgotten such actions. She also probably could not remember her mother and may have found it hard to feel passionate for someone who was absent from her life. In contrast Henry was her reminding parent and as Starkey stresses, Elizabeth was impressionable in her early teens so its understanding that she would reach out for her reminding family. This not only included her father but also her new stepmother Katherine Parr who she formed an important relationship with.


Elizabeth's impressionable nature in her adolescence is careful examined throughout the book. This is particularly well observed when Starkey writes about Elizabeth's time in her stepmother's household. After Henry VIII died Katherine Parr married a young ambition nobleman, Thomas Seymour, who unfortunately for Katherine and for Elizabeth took an interest in the young girl that went beyond fatherly affections. The result was a series of behaviour which we may deem as child abuse although Starkey does not endorse the idea that Seymour went so far as to sleep with Elizabeth. Ultimately Starkey also highlights that after Seymour's actions and when the council interrogated Elizabeth as to her relationship with Seymour, she kept her head and even at that age she had a remarkable ability to remain composed and prepared to fight in times of personal trouble.

The biography also covers the other significant occasion where Elizabeth faced near ruin. This is her arrest and interrogation in 1554 during the reign of her sister Mary I. A rebellion, known as Wyatt's rebellion, had occurred in 1554 against the proposed marriage between Mary and the Spanish prince, Philip. After the rebellion had died down the rebels homes were raided and amongst Thomas Wyatt's papers was a copy of a letter written by Elizabeth to her sister Mary telling her that she did not wish to leave her country home to avoid the rebels on account of her poor health. Subsequently the council had what they needed to arrest her. Starkey highlights that throughout her interrogation and imprisonment there was the existence of several courtiers who wished her gone, including the Spanish ambassador Renard who summarised to his master Charles V that she was a threat to Mary. But throughout Starkey reminds us that we must not romanticise Elizabeth's time in the tower as some previous historians and even contemporaries loved to do; instead we have to remember that she was not completely defenceless, being as she was the largest landowner in England, the rightful heir to the throne under Henry VIII's will and importantly she had the affections of most of the people.

Overall `Elizabeth' is a fantastic biography on one of the most remarkable women of the sixteenth century. Throughout Starkey conveys well Elizabeth's formation of character and this fighting spirit that she employed not only in her time before becoming queen but also after. He doesn't romanticise her life or attempt to make it more tragic to gain the reader's overwhelming sympathy. He also does not degrade Elizabeth's enemies but instead refers to their positions as well. The central theme that recurs throughout the book is the concept of survival; Elizabeth's early life was not an easy one yet she strove not only to get the crown she wanted but also she fought to stay alive. Starkey does a fantastic job with this biography and if you are interested in this era as a whole then also try his work on the six wives of Henry VIII as `Elizabeth' can be used as a direct sequel to that book.

Elizabeth I survived to become queen by being very careful. The fact that she avoided being used or implicated by the various plots against her radically Protestant brother Henry VIII, and fanatically Catholic sister Mary I, was a triumph in itself, and she never forgot the lesson that survival needed to be her first goal. What many of her contemporaries took for irritating womanly indecision was a refusal to be hurried; some situations change and some go away, but you can never escape the consequences of your actions--she protected Mary, Queen of Scots for as long as she could.

Alison Weir's new biography covers the facts well enough, but she understands Elizabeth's situation imaginatively, and that is what makes her book special. Elizabeth not only overcame the misogyny of the world she lived in--she exploited it; Weir's own feminism gives her insights into the canny role-playing that was so crucial to Elizabeth's chameleon nature. Everything had to be policy from wigs and fans to rack and gallows; this is a biography which understands not only what happened, but how it seemed and felt at the time. This is an excellent conclusion to Weir's series of Tudor biographies--popular history which brings good sense to bear on scholarly fact. --Roz Kaveney

The Sometimes Princess, 05 Nov 2008
So much has been written about Queen Elizabeth I and her glorious reign, but it seems that her life prior to coronation is glossed over. This book concentrates on her birth, early childhood and adolescence. It helps to explain many of her later idiosyncracies. Her early years were uncertain and changeable. One moment Princess Elizabeth, the next just Lady Elizabeth. In adolescence, years spent in The Tower at her sisters disposition! Such a dramatic childhood and youth need a separate book dedicated solely to them. This is that book. It reads very smoothly and ends tantalisingly just as Elizabeth's reign begins. Highly recommended.

Strange, 15 Jul 2008
This is not the kind of history that I was expecting - highly populist, focussed more heavily on Elizabeth as a person than on the politics and her decisions as a Queen. Beware.

Good introduction, 16 Oct 2007
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A brilliant introduction to a fascinating life, 21 Sep 2007
This book is both extremely thorough and very readable. Not only does it illuminate an area of Elizabeth's life that so many other works on the ruler skate over,it does so in an accessible and informative manner. Elizabeth actually emerges as a real flesh and blood teenager, rather than the formidable figure, with her glownig white face and imposing dress of later years.

Very useful for those developing an interest in the Tudor monarchs.

A brilliant biography on the life of Elizabeth Tudor prior to her reign. , 30 Aug 2007
`Elizabeth' by David Starkey is a fantastic account of the life of Elizabeth Tudor prior to her accession to the English throne in 1558. As such the book examines Elizabeth's upbringing and education, along with her zeal for learning, and the occasions where she encountered danger.

Starkey examines well Elizabeth's intellectual capability and highlights how this precocious nature was not only inherited from her father (and her siblings too shared such aptitude) but also from personal enthusiasm. Not only does it appear that it gave her personal fulfilment and that overall it was enjoyable, but it was also of a means to reunite herself with her father, who had distanced himself after the execution of his second wife and Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn. Starkey also brilliantly observes that we should dismiss the traditional and fanciful idea that it was Katherine Parr who reuniting Elizabeth with her father. In fact as he points out, such a reunion occurred prior to when Katherine's marriage to Henry. Instead the reunion was formed because both father and daughter wanted it, and in the case of Elizabeth she must be credited for employing the effort to seek it.

Starkey also covers well Elizabeth's admiration for her father. We may find it hard to understand why a girl would want to have a relationship with a father who executed her own mother. But Starkey explains Elizabeth's fondness for Henry in an understandable manner. The humiliations that Elizabeth endured in her early childhood were forgotten by the time she ascended into her teens, not because she was fickle but because the harsh actions committed towards her were done when she was very young and so she may have naturally forgotten such actions. She also probably could not remember her mother and may have found it hard to feel passionate for someone who was absent from her life. In contrast Henry was her reminding parent and as Starkey stresses, Elizabeth was impressionable in her early teens so its understanding that she would reach out for her reminding family. This not only included her father but also her new stepmother Katherine Parr who she formed an important relationship with.


Elizabeth's impressionable nature in her adolescence is careful examined throughout the book. This is particularly well observed when Starkey writes about Elizabeth's time in her stepmother's household. After Henry VIII died Katherine Parr married a young ambition nobleman, Thomas Seymour, who unfortunately for Katherine and for Elizabeth took an interest in the young girl that went beyond fatherly affections. The result was a series of behaviour which we may deem as child abuse although Starkey does not endorse the idea that Seymour went so far as to sleep with Elizabeth. Ultimately Starkey also highlights that after Seymour's actions and when the council interrogated Elizabeth as to her relationship with Seymour, she kept her head and even at that age she had a remarkable ability to remain composed and prepared to fight in times of personal trouble.

The biography also covers the other significant occasion where Elizabeth faced near ruin. This is her arrest and interrogation in 1554 during the reign of her sister Mary I. A rebellion, known as Wyatt's rebellion, had occurred in 1554 against the proposed marriage between Mary and the Spanish prince, Philip. After the rebellion had died down the rebels homes were raided and amongst Thomas Wyatt's papers was a copy of a letter written by Elizabeth to her sister Mary telling her that she did not wish to leave her country home to avoid the rebels on account of her poor health. Subsequently the council had what they needed to arrest her. Starkey highlights that throughout her interrogation and imprisonment there was the existence of several courtiers who wished her gone, including the Spanish ambassador Renard who summarised to his master Charles V that she was a threat to Mary. But throughout Starkey reminds us that we must not romanticise Elizabeth's time in the tower as some previous historians and even contemporaries loved to do; instead we have to remember that she was not completely defenceless, being as she was the largest landowner in England, the rightful heir to the throne under Henry VIII's will and importantly she had the affections of most of the people.

Overall `Elizabeth' is a fantastic biography on one of the most remarkable women of the sixteenth century. Throughout Starkey conveys well Elizabeth's formation of character and this fighting spirit that she employed not only in her time before becoming queen but also after. He doesn't romanticise her life or attempt to make it more tragic to gain the reader's overwhelming sympathy. He also does not degrade Elizabeth's enemies but instead refers to their positions as well. The central theme that recurs throughout the book is the concept of survival; Elizabeth's early life was not an easy one yet she strove not only to get the crown she wanted but also she fought to stay alive. Starkey does a fantastic job with this biography and if you are interested in this era as a whole then also try his work on the six wives of Henry VIII as `Elizabeth' can be used as a direct sequel to that book.


The True Meaning of Majesty, 05 Nov 2008
This book picks up Elizabeth's life at the time of her sucession to the English throne up unto her death in 1603.It covers every aspect of her reign. The continual threat from Mary, Queen of Scots, Spanish invasion and excomunication from Rome are just some of the troubles that Elizabeth had to deal with. The reader is also made very well acquainted with all the political stars of the day who were so essential to the affairs of the country and others who sought their own advancement only. Alison Weir paints a wonderful all round picture of the last Tudor court, which always gives me the impression that I'm watching a film rather than reading a book. With so much material available on Elizabeth I it can be difficult to make a choice. For a detailed journey of her pre- Queen life, one should look elsewhere. But this is as a superbly informative narrative of her reign. Thoroughly enjoyable reading.

Great non-fiction read., 19 Oct 2007
I was totally hooked on this book right from the start, although I usually read historical novels rather than non-fiction. It is so well written and descriptive that I felt I was an eye-witness at the Tudor court. If only school history lessons had been so interesting!

Very sympathetic portrayal of Elizabeth, 28 Jul 2006
Alison Weir writes a very engaging and sympathetic account of Queen Elizabeth, taking the reader right into the heart of Renaissance England and Elizabeth's splendid court. This is a vivid portrait of Elizabeth and her relationship with her rivals, suitors, courtiers, subjects, foreign diplomats and enemies. All aspects of court life are covered, from social relations and life at court, to war and the politics of 16th century England, thus providing not just an engaging biography but also a journey in time, taking the reader back 500 years to an England at once imperial, majestic, and in the midst of civil political turmoil. One star less because I feel as if not enough space was given to Elizabeth's relationship and dealings with Mary Tudor or the character and motifs of the Earl of Essex, the uprising of the latter being glossed over very quickly and in little detail, despite Essex's influential role at court.

Deeply compelling, 22 Oct 2003
I have read many of Alison Weirs' books (the latest being the Princes in the Tower) and can not fault her. Aside from her exquisite ability to transport you to an age where the ruler of a country was all powerful. She guides and teaches you about the person and era in which the book is based.

This book in particuar is a "just can't put it down" book. There is everything. Murder, intrigue, treachery, love and even a bit of comedy (I found the thought off essex walking though london yelling for people to take arms against the queen and noone responding as most humerous). Fact is without doubt better than fiction.

Buy this book and you won't be disappointed and I guarentee this will not be the last Alison Weir book you shall buy.

A most enthralling read, 24 Jun 2001
I found Alison's book one of, if not the best I have ever read on Elizabeth, whom I find quite the most fascinating heroine of any age.I disappeared into the book and was transported to her court.Fabulous.

The Sometimes Princess, 05 Nov 2008
So much has been written about Queen Elizabeth I and her glorious reign, but it seems that her life prior to coronation is glossed over. This book concentrates on her birth, early childhood and adolescence. It helps to explain many of her later idiosyncracies. Her early years were uncertain and changeable. One moment Princess Elizabeth, the next just Lady Elizabeth. In adolescence, years spent in The Tower at her sisters disposition! Such a dramatic childhood and youth need a separate book dedicated solely to them. This is that book. It reads very smoothly and ends tantalisingly just as Elizabeth's reign begins. Highly recommended.

Strange, 15 Jul 2008
This is not the kind of history that I was expecting - highly populist, focussed more heavily on Elizabeth as a person than on the politics and her decisions as a Queen. Beware.

Good introduction, 16 Oct 2007
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A brilliant introduction to a fascinating life, 21 Sep 2007
This book is both extremely thorough and very readable. Not only does it illuminate an area of Elizabeth's life that so many other works on the ruler skate over,it does so in an accessible and informative manner. Elizabeth actually emerges as a real flesh and blood teenager, rather than the formidable figure, with her glownig white face and imposing dress of later years.

Very useful for those developing an interest in the Tudor monarchs.

A brilliant biography on the life of Elizabeth Tudor prior to her reign. , 30 Aug 2007
`Elizabeth' by David Starkey is a fantastic account of the life of Elizabeth Tudor prior to her accession to the English throne in 1558. As such the book examines Elizabeth's upbringing and education, along with her zeal for learning, and the occasions where she encountered danger.

Starkey examines well Elizabeth's intellectual capability and highlights how this precocious nature was not only inherited from her father (and her siblings too shared such aptitude) but also from personal enthusiasm. Not only does it appear that it gave her personal fulfilment and that overall it was enjoyable, but it was also of a means to reunite herself with her father, who had distanced himself after the execution of his second wife and Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn. Starkey also brilliantly observes that we should dismiss the traditional and fanciful idea that it was Katherine Parr who reuniting Elizabeth with her father. In fact as he points out, such a reunion occurred prior to when Katherine's marriage to Henry. Instead the reunion was formed because both father and daughter wanted it, and in the case of Elizabeth she must be credited for employing the effort to seek it.

Starkey also covers well Elizabeth's admiration for her father. We may find it hard to understand why a girl would want to have a relationship with a father who executed her own mother. But Starkey explains Elizabeth's fondness for Henry in an understandable manner. The humiliations that Elizabeth endured in her early childhood were forgotten by the time she ascended into her teens, not because she was fickle but because the harsh actions committed towards her were done when she was very young and so she may have naturally forgotten such actions. She also probably could not remember her mother and may have found it hard to feel passionate for someone who was absent from her life. In contrast Henry was her reminding parent and as Starkey stresses, Elizabeth was impressionable in her early teens so its understanding that she would reach out for her reminding family. This not only included her father but also her new stepmother Katherine Parr who she formed an important relationship with.


Elizabeth's impressionable nature in her adolescence is careful examined throughout the book. This is particularly well observed when Starkey writes about Elizabeth's time in her stepmother's household. After Henry VIII died Katherine Parr married a young ambition nobleman, Thomas Seymour, who unfortunately for Katherine and for Elizabeth took an interest in the young girl that went beyond fatherly affections. The result was a series of behaviour which we may deem as child abuse although Starkey does not endorse the idea that Seymour went so far as to sleep with Elizabeth. Ultimately Starkey also highlights that after Seymour's actions and when the council interrogated Elizabeth as to her relationship with Seymour, she kept her head and even at that age she had a remarkable ability to remain composed and prepared to fight in times of personal trouble.

The biography also covers the other significant occasion where Elizabeth faced near ruin. This is her arrest and interrogation in 1554 during the reign of her sister Mary I. A rebellion, known as Wyatt's rebellion, had occurred in 1554 against the proposed marriage between Mary and the Spanish prince, Philip. After the rebellion had died down the rebels homes were raided and amongst Thomas Wyatt's papers was a copy of a letter written by Elizabeth to her sister Mary telling her that she did not wish to leave her country home to avoid the rebels on account of her poor health. Subsequently the council had what they needed to arrest her. Starkey highlights that throughout her interrogation and imprisonment there was the existence of several courtiers who wished her gone, including the Spanish ambassador Renard who summarised to his master Charles V that she was a threat to Mary. But throughout Starkey reminds us that we must not romanticise Elizabeth's time in the tower as some previous historians and even contemporaries loved to do; instead we have to remember that she was not completely defenceless, being as she was the largest landowner in England, the rightful heir to the throne under Henry VIII's will and importantly she had the affections of most of the people.

Overall `Elizabeth' is a fantastic biography on one of the most remarkable women of the sixteenth century. Throughout Starkey conveys well Elizabeth's formation of character and this fighting spirit that she employed not only in her time before becoming queen but also after. He doesn't romanticise her life or attempt to make it more tragic to gain the reader's overwhelming sympathy. He also does not degrade Elizabeth's enemies but instead refers to their positions as well. The central theme that recurs throughout the book is the concept of survival; Elizabeth's early life was not an easy one yet she strove not only to get the crown she wanted but also she fought to stay alive. Starkey does a fantastic job with this biography and if you are interested in this era as a whole then also try his work on the six wives of Henry VIII as `Elizabeth' can be used as a direct sequel to that book.


The True Meaning of Majesty, 05 Nov 2008
This book picks up Elizabeth's life at the time of her sucession to the English throne up unto her death in 1603.It covers every aspect of her reign. The continual threat from Mary, Queen of Scots, Spanish invasion and excomunication from Rome are just some of the troubles that Elizabeth had to deal with. The reader is also made very well acquainted with all the political stars of the day who were so essential to the affairs of the country and others who sought their own advancement only. Alison Weir paints a wonderful all round picture of the last Tudor court, which always gives me the impression that I'm watching a film rather than reading a book. With so much material available on Elizabeth I it can be difficult to make a choice. For a detailed journey of her pre- Queen life, one should look elsewhere. But this is as a superbly informative narrative of her reign. Thoroughly enjoyable reading.

Great non-fiction read., 19 Oct 2007
I was totally hooked on this book right from the start, although I usually read historical novels rather than non-fiction. It is so well written and descriptive that I felt I was an eye-witness at the Tudor court. If only school history lessons had been so interesting!

Very sympathetic portrayal of Elizabeth, 28 Jul 2006
Alison Weir writes a very engaging and sympathetic account of Queen Elizabeth, taking the reader right into the heart of Renaissance England and Elizabeth's splendid court. This is a vivid portrait of Elizabeth and her relationship with her rivals, suitors, courtiers, subjects, foreign diplomats and enemies. All aspects of court life are covered, from social relations and life at court, to war and the politics of 16th century England, thus providing not just an engaging biography but also a journey in time, taking the reader back 500 years to an England at once imperial, majestic, and in the midst of civil political turmoil. One star less because I feel as if not enough space was given to Elizabeth's relationship and dealings with Mary Tudor or the character and motifs of the Earl of Essex, the uprising of the latter being glossed over very quickly and in little detail, despite Essex's influential role at court.

Deeply compelling, 22 Oct 2003
I have read many of Alison Weirs' books (the latest being the Princes in the Tower) and can not fault her. Aside from her exquisite ability to transport you to an age where the ruler of a country was all powerful. She guides and teaches you about the person and era in which the book is based.

This book in particuar is a "just can't put it down" book. There is everything. Murder, intrigue, treachery, love and even a bit of comedy (I found the thought off essex walking though london yelling for people to take arms against the queen and noone responding as most humerous). Fact is without doubt better than fiction.

Buy this book and you won't be disappointed and I guarentee this will not be the last Alison Weir book you shall buy.

A most enthralling read, 24 Jun 2001
I found Alison's book one of, if not the best I have ever read on Elizabeth, whom I find quite the most fascinating heroine of any age.I disappeared into the book and was transported to her court.Fabulous.

Inconsequential Talk, 22 Nov 2008
This book is very disappointing!
The author rightly says that "all one can do is to present the evidence", but sadly that is exactly
what Sarah Gristwood hasn't done: many of the relevant sources
she doesn't mention, or worse, she misrepresents
them and offers ridiculous explanations.
E.g.: when we are told that the Earl of Arundel and
the Duke of Norfolk warned Leicester not to go into
the Queen's bedchamber in the morning, habitually "handing her
her shift", we are not told what the two lords
said else to Leicester (they made clear to him they would condone his behaviour, if he could assure them he was betrothed to the queen, but as he couldn't, he would endanger the queen's honour); instead we get aquainted with
the fact that Henry VIII also was handed his shift by a gentleman (sic)
and that this was a great honour to that gentleman, so the duke and the earl were just jealous!
It seems to have escaped Sarah Gristwood that Henry VIII was male, while his daughter was female.
There are many such examples in the book. Another
annoying aspect is the talkative style: she talks
about everything but the subject her book purports to be on. E.g., she lectures on Catherine the Great and Potemkin and the courtly love of the High
Middle Ages (which was apparently very chaste, despite Tristan and Isolde who, of course, don't
figure in the book)...
I read a work on Potemkin, in case I am interested in him, I am definitely not in this context...it is exasperating to see more Hamlet quotations in this
book than those from the letters and papers that
belong here:
The author fails entirely to evoke the wonderful images of this couple and their unique love; not even the apotheosis of the Armada, their last days together, and his "last letter" are well conveyed; it is mostly essayistic babble.

Elizabeth and Leicester, 26 Oct 2008
This book has a very interesting subject but I found the read rather intense. There are so many different aspects being covered all at once and I found it a little hard to keep up at some points. It puts to bed the long held theory of the Elizabeth and Leicester's so called love affair and concludes that he was in fact simply a manipulated favourite. It also dulls down the idea that Elizabeth was ever truly in love with Robert Dudley, despite the fact that it was always going to be impossible for them to marry. It is a rather biased interpretation of the evidence. It is none the less an interesting and informative read.

How much did Elizabeth's 'eyes' see?, 04 Jan 2008
There are certain themes in history that have captured the imagination, whose heroes and heroines escape from dusty pages and occupy a place in our own times. At every point in between the same stories and people have their tales told, with an interpretation that fits the relevant age. Of all the kings and queens of England, one has held the hearts of her subjects for longer than any other - Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen.

Either by her own deft knack of public relations, or by the expert spinning of her advisers, the Queen of England was a legend in her own time. Her portrait was standardised, and is as recognisable today as it was four centuries ago. The idea of her being married to the kingdom, both her virginity and devotion intact, has endured through the ages.

Despite her successes on the throne, ruling over the emerging English empire, her relative religious tolerance and stable reign, it is her relationships that have taken the starring role of popular history. Of all her relationships, that with Robert Dudley, later Earl of Leicester, has been the most examined, gossiped and intrigued.

Sarah Gristwood has managed to write a book that balances the extensive source material, the voluminous secondary writings and her own views to present something approximating a balanced view. She admits that anything approaching the truth is impossible to know, but that by setting forward the arguments on both sides one can at least form an informed opinion. Gristwood's writing is engaging, silkenly weaving a rich narrative that evokes the complex characters at its heart. A supporting case of ambassadors, advisers and ladies in waiting add colour to the story, especially with her extensive quoting of ambassadorial despatches.

Gristwood quotes Henry IV of France as saying that the subject of Elizabeth's virginity was one of the three questions all Europe wanted the answer to. It still remains one of the more intriguing questions left forever unanswerable. But there is also more than just the titillation of the queen sexual relations or lack thereof. Gristwood works to rehabilitate the reputation of a man who was a key advisor and power broker in her reign. More than just the plaything of the Queen, Leicester emerges as a historical personality with quite independent ambitions and ideas.

One of the reviewers on this site has suggested this is "one for the fans of Philippa Gregory, rather than the serious history scholar." Whilst I would agree that this is not a heavyweight academic tome (and on such a subject, it probably never would be), I disagree in it lacking merit for those interested in history. Whilst it is true that the author's opinions are stated, she is more upfront in clarifying that they are her opinions. This is more honest than many `popular' histories that simply lay down narrative as fact, despite all history being subjective.

The Queen's lover?, 27 Oct 2007
It's been over 40 years since a biography of Elizabeth I focussed on her relationship with Robert Dudley. Their relationship is fascinating because of the many unanswered questions. Not only, did they ever consummate the relationship, but also did Elizabeth ever truly want to marry him? What was his real influence over events? I've always found their relationship interesting because of the contrast between Elizabeth's actions and those of Mary Queen of Scots in a similar situation. Of course, the two women were different personalities and their political situations were also very different. Elizabeth, though, weathered the scandal of Amy Dudley's death (suicide? accident? murder?) and accepted that she could never marry Robert, where Mary, after Darnley's murder, seemed to wilfully throw away the many advantages she had accrued in her years in Scotland to marry Darnley's accused murderer. The bond between them was strong and Elizabeth drew a lot of comfort from the loyalty of her closest advisors, Dudley among them. Sarah Gristwood's book is an entertaining study of the relationship and how it has been viewed over the past 400 years.

A guilty pleasure, 19 Apr 2007
If you're looking for an academic history which is methodologically sound then forget this - but if you're looking for an engrossing, witty, pleasurable read then this is perfect! This is basically a fictional treatment of Elizabeth and her relationship with Leicester dressed up as popular history. Starting with Elizabth's youth, it eschews the political for the romantic, and focuses on her intimate personal relations with Leicester amongst others. The treatment of the death of Amy Dudley admits that we can never know what really happened, and yet lays out the 'evidence' in such a biased way that we know exactly what the author both thinks and wants to have happened.

I enjoyed this book enormously, but it's definitely one for the fans of Philippa Gregory, rather than the serious history scholar.

Jane Dunn's double biography Elizabeth and Mary takes as its rich and explosive subject matter the ultimately fatal relationship between Queen Elizabeth I of England and her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots. Throughout much of the second half of the 16th century, these two women found themselves queens of their kingdoms and locked in a battle for possession of the British Isles, which only ended with Mary's eventual downfall and execution at Elizabeth's hands in 1586.

As Dunn points out in her meticulous and compelling recreation of the complex relationship between the two women, "from that one act of regicide, a queen killing a fellow queen, has spun a mythology of justification, romance, accusation, and blame that retains its force right to the present day." Her approach attempts to avoid myth and romance and understand the complex bond that existed between the two women. Elizabeth, the apparent victor, "was haunted by a deep-rooted insecurity as to her own legitimacy", while Mary was pursued by claims of sexual excess and immersion in murderous plots against husbands and enemies, variously seen as "a wronged Madonna or a murderous jezebel."

Dunn elegantly follows the ups and downs of both monarchs as they strive for political power. Mary's tumultuous reign as Queen of Scotland is particularly well handled, as is Elizabeth's agonised vacillation over her decision to execute Mary. In the end, death triumphed over both, and ensured that each was "elevated to an idealised majesty" for very different reasons. Dunn has marshalled an impressive body of evidence that never overwhelms this psychologically nuanced account of these two remarkable women. --Jerry Brotton

The Sometimes Princess, 05 Nov 2008
So much has been written about Queen Elizabeth I and her glorious reign, but it seems that her life prior to coronation is glossed over. This book concentrates on her birth, early childhood and adolescence. It helps to explain many of her later idiosyncracies. Her early years were uncertain and changeable. One moment Princess Elizabeth, the next just Lady Elizabeth. In adolescence, years spent in The Tower at her sisters disposition! Such a dramatic childhood and youth need a separate book dedicated solely to them. This is that book. It reads very smoothly and ends tantalisingly just as Elizabeth's reign begins. Highly recommended.

Strange, 15 Jul 2008
This is not the kind of history that I was expecting - highly populist, focussed more heavily on Elizabeth as a person than on the politics and her decisions as a Queen. Beware.

Good introduction, 16 Oct 2007
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A brilliant introduction to a fascinating life, 21 Sep 2007
This book is both extremely thorough and very readable. Not only does it illuminate an area of Elizabeth's life that so many other works on the ruler skate over,it does so in an accessible and informative manner. Elizabeth actually emerges as a real flesh and blood teenager, rather than the formidable figure, with her glownig white face and imposing dress of later years.

Very useful for those developing an interest in the Tudor monarchs.

A brilliant biography on the life of Elizabeth Tudor prior to her reign. , 30 Aug 2007
`Elizabeth' by David Starkey is a fantastic account of the life of Elizabeth Tudor prior to her accession to the English throne in 1558. As such the book examines Elizabeth's upbringing and education, along with her zeal for learning, and the occasions where she encountered danger.

Starkey examines well Elizabeth's intellectual capability and highlights how this precocious nature was not only inherited from her father (and her siblings too shared such aptitude) but also from personal enthusiasm. Not only does it appear that it gave her personal fulfilment and that overall it was enjoyable, but it was also of a means to reunite herself with her father, who had distanced himself after the execution of his second wife and Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn. Starkey also brilliantly observes that we should dismiss the traditional and fanciful idea that it was Katherine Parr who reuniting Elizabeth with her father. In fact as he points out, such a reunion occurred prior to when Katherine's marriage to Henry. Instead the reunion was formed because both father and daughter wanted it, and in the case of Elizabeth she must be credited for employing the effort to seek it.

Starkey also covers well Elizabeth's admiration for her father. We may find it hard to understand why a girl would want to have a relationship with a father who executed her own mother. But Starkey explains Elizabeth's fondness for Henry in an understandable manner. The humiliations that Elizabeth endured in her early childhood were forgotten by the time she ascended into her teens, not because she was fickle but because the harsh actions committed towards her were done when she was very young and so she may have naturally forgotten such actions. She also probably could not remember her mother and may have found it hard to feel passionate for someone who was absent from her life. In contrast Henry was her reminding parent and as Starkey stresses, Elizabeth was impressionable in her early teens so its understanding that she would reach out for her reminding family. This not only included her father but also her new stepmother Katherine Parr who she formed an important relationship with.


Elizabeth's impressionable nature in her adolescence is careful examined throughout the book. This is particularly well observed when Starkey writes about Elizabeth's time in her stepmother's household. After Henry VIII died Katherine Parr married a young ambition nobleman, Thomas Seymour, who unfortunately for Katherine and for Elizabeth took an interest in the young girl that went beyond fatherly affections. The result was a series of behaviour which we may deem as child abuse although Starkey does not endorse the idea that Seymour went so far as to sleep with Elizabeth. Ultimately Starkey also highlights that after Seymour's actions and when the council interrogated Elizabeth as to her relationship with Seymour, she kept her head and even at that age she had a remarkable ability to remain composed and prepared to fight in times of personal trouble.

The biography also covers the other significant occasion where Elizabeth faced near ruin. This is her arrest and interrogation in 1554 during the reign of her sister Mary I. A rebellion, known as Wyatt's rebellion, had occurred in 1554 against the proposed marriage between Mary and the Spanish prince, Philip. After the rebellion had died down the rebels homes were raided and amongst Thomas Wyatt's papers was a copy of a letter written by Elizabeth to her sister Mary telling her that she did not wish to leave her country home to avoid the rebels on account of her poor health. Subsequently the council had what they needed to arrest her. Starkey highlights that throughout her interrogation and imprisonment there was the existence of several courtiers who wished her gone, including the Spanish ambassador Renard who summarised to his master Charles V that she was a threat to Mary. But throughout Starkey reminds us that we must not romanticise Elizabeth's time in the tower as some previous historians and even contemporaries loved to do; instead we have to remember that she was not completely defenceless, being as she was the largest landowner in England, the rightful heir to the throne under Henry VIII's will and importantly she had the affections of most of the people.

Overall `Elizabeth' is a fantastic biography on one of the most remarkable women of the sixteenth century. Throughout Starkey conveys well Elizabeth's formation of character and this fighting spirit that she employed not only in her time before becoming queen but also after. He doesn't romanticise her life or attempt to make it more tragic to gain the reader's overwhelming sympathy. He also does not degrade Elizabeth's enemies but instead refers to their positions as well. The central theme that recurs throughout the book is the concept of survival; Elizabeth's early life was not an easy one yet she strove not only to get the crown she wanted but also she fought to stay alive. Starkey does a fantastic job with this biography and if you are interested in this era as a whole then also try his work on the six wives of Henry VIII as `Elizabeth' can be used as a direct sequel to that book.


The True Meaning of Majesty, 05 Nov 2008
This book picks up Elizabeth's life at the time of her sucession to the English throne up unto her death in 1603.It covers every aspect of her reign. The continual threat from Mary, Queen of Scots, Spanish invasion and excomunication from Rome are just some of the troubles that Elizabeth had to deal with. The reader is also made very well acquainted with all the political stars of the day who were so essential to the affairs of the country and others who sought their own advancement only. Alison Weir paints a wonderful all round picture of the last Tudor court, which always gives me the impression that I'm watching a film rather than reading a book. With so much material available on Elizabeth I it can be difficult to make a choice. For a detailed journey of her pre- Queen life, one should look elsewhere. But this is as a superbly informative narrative of her reign. Thoroughly enjoyable reading.

Great non-fiction read., 19 Oct 2007
I was totally hooked on this book right from the start, although I usually read historical novels rather than non-fiction. It is so well written and descriptive that I felt I was an eye-witness at the Tudor court. If only school history lessons had been so interesting!

Very sympathetic portrayal of Elizabeth, 28 Jul 2006
Alison Weir writes a very engaging and sympathetic account of Queen Elizabeth, taking the reader right into the heart of Renaissance England and Elizabeth's splendid court. This is a vivid portrait of Elizabeth and her relationship with her rivals, suitors, courtiers, subjects, foreign diplomats and enemies. All aspects of court life are covered, from social relations and life at court, to war and the politics of 16th century England, thus providing not just an engaging biography but also a journey in time, taking the reader back 500 years to an England at once imperial, majestic, and in the midst of civil political turmoil. One star less because I feel as if not enough space was given to Elizabeth's relationship and dealings with Mary Tudor or the character and motifs of the Earl of Essex, the uprising of the latter being glossed over very quickly and in little detail, despite Essex's influential role at court.

Deeply compelling, 22 Oct 2003
I have read many of Alison Weirs' books (the latest being the Princes in the Tower) and can not fault her. Aside from her exquisite ability to transport you to an age where the ruler of a country was all powerful. She guides and teaches you about the person and era in which the book is based.

This book in particuar is a "just can't put it down" book. There is everything. Murder, intrigue, treachery, love and even a bit of comedy (I found the thought off essex walking though london yelling for people to take arms against the queen and noone responding as most humerous). Fact is without doubt better than fiction.

Buy this book and you won't be disappointed and I guarentee this will not be the last Alison Weir book you shall buy.

A most enthralling read, 24 Jun 2001
I found Alison's book one of, if not the best I have ever read on Elizabeth, whom I find quite the most fascinating heroine of any age.I disappeared into the book and was transported to her court.Fabulous.

Inconsequential Talk, 22 Nov 2008
This book is very disappointing!
The author rightly says that "all one can do is to present the evidence", but sadly that is exactly
what Sarah Gristwood hasn't done: many of the relevant sources
she doesn't mention, or worse, she misrepresents
them and offers ridiculous explanations.
E.g.: when we are told that the Earl of Arundel and
the Duke of Norfolk warned Leicester not to go into
the Queen's bedchamber in the morning, habitually "handing her
her shift", we are not told what the two lords
said else to Leicester (they made clear to him they would condone his behaviour, if he could assure them he was betrothed to the queen, but as he couldn't, he would endanger the queen's honour); instead we get aquainted with
the fact that Henry VIII also was handed his shift by a gentleman (sic)
and that this was a great honour to that gentleman, so the duke and the earl were just jealous!
It seems to have escaped Sarah Gristwood that Henry VIII was male, while his daughter was female.
There are many such examples in the book. Another
annoying aspect is the talkative style: she talks
about everything but the subject her book purports to be on. E.g., she lectures on Catherine the Great and Potemkin and the courtly love of the High
Middle Ages (which was apparently very chaste, despite Tristan and Isolde who, of course, don't
figure in the book)...
I read a work on Potemkin, in case I am interested in him, I am definitely not in this context...it is exasperating to see more Hamlet quotations in this
book than those from the letters and papers that
belong here:
The author fails entirely to evoke the wonderful images of this couple and their unique love; not even the apotheosis of the Armada, their last days together, and his "last letter" are well conveyed; it is mostly essayistic babble.

Elizabeth and Leicester, 26 Oct 2008
This book has a very interesting subject but I found the read rather intense. There are so many different aspects being covered all at once and I found it a little hard to keep up at some points. It puts to bed the long held theory of the Elizabeth and Leicester's so called love affair and concludes that he was in fact simply a manipulated favourite. It also dulls down the idea that Elizabeth was ever truly in love with Robert Dudley, despite the fact that it was always going to be impossible for them to marry. It is a rather biased interpretation of the evidence. It is none the less an interesting and informative read.

How much did Elizabeth's 'eyes' see?, 04 Jan 2008
There are certain themes in history that have captured the imagination, whose heroes and heroines escape from dusty pages and occupy a place in our own times. At every point in between the same stories and people have their tales told, with an interpretation that fits the relevant age. Of all the kings and queens of England, one has held the hearts of her subjects for longer than any other - Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen.

Either by her own deft knack of public relations, or by the expert spinning of her advisers, the Queen of England was a legend in her own time. Her portrait was standardised, and is as recognisable today as it was four centuries ago. The idea of her being married to the kingdom, both her virginity and devotion intact, has endured through the ages.

Despite her successes on the throne, ruling over the emerging English empire, her relative religious tolerance and stable reign, it is her relationships that have taken the starring role of popular history. Of all her relationships, that with Robert Dudley, later Earl of Leicester, has been the most examined, gossiped and intrigued.

Sarah Gristwood has managed to write a book that balances the extensive source material, the voluminous secondary writings and her own views to present something approximating a balanced view. She admits that anything approaching the truth is impossible to know, but that by setting forward the arguments on both sides one can at least form an informed opinion. Gristwood's writing is engaging, silkenly weaving a rich narrative that evokes the complex characters at its heart. A supporting case of ambassadors, advisers and ladies in waiting add colour to the story, especially with her extensive quoting of ambassadorial despatches.

Gristwood quotes Henry IV of France as saying that the subject of Elizabeth's virginity was one of the three questions all Europe wanted the answer to. It still remains one of the more intriguing questions left forever unanswerable. But there is also more than just the titillation of the queen sexual relations or lack thereof. Gristwood works to rehabilitate the reputation of a man who was a key advisor and power broker in her reign. More than just the plaything of the Queen, Leicester emerges as a historical personality with quite independent ambitions and ideas.

One of the reviewers on this site has suggested this is "one for the fans of Philippa Gregory, rather than the serious history scholar." Whilst I would agree that this is not a heavyweight academic tome (and on such a subject, it probably never would be), I disagree in it lacking merit for those interested in history. Whilst it is true that the author's opinions are stated, she is more upfront in clarifying that they are her opinions. This is more honest than many `popular' histories that simply lay down narrative as fact, despite all history being subjective.

The Queen's lover?, 27 Oct 2007
It's been over 40 years since a biography of Elizabeth I focussed on her relationship with Robert Dudley. Their relationship is fascinating because of the many unanswered questions. Not only, did they ever consummate the relationship, but also did Elizabeth ever truly want to marry him? What was his real influence over events? I've always found their relationship interesting because of the contrast between Elizabeth's actions and those of Mary Queen of Scots in a similar situation. Of course, the two women were different personalities and their political situations were also very different. Elizabeth, though, weathered the scandal of Amy Dudley's death (suicide? accident? murder?) and accepted that she could never marry Robert, where Mary, after Darnley's murder, seemed to wilfully throw away the many advantages she had accrued in her years in Scotland to marry Darnley's accused murderer. The bond between them was strong and Elizabeth drew a lot of comfort from the loyalty of her closest advisors, Dudley among them. Sarah Gristwood's book is an entertaining study of the relationship and how it has been viewed over the past 400 years.

A guilty pleasure, 19 Apr 2007
If you're looking for an academic history which is methodologically sound then forget this - but if you're looking for an engrossing, witty, pleasurable read then this is perfect! This is basically a fictional treatment of Elizabeth and her relationship with Leicester dressed up as popular history. Starting with Elizabth's youth, it eschews the political for the romantic, and focuses on her intimate personal relations with Leicester amongst others. The treatment of the death of Amy Dudley admits that we can never know what really happened, and yet lays out the 'evidence' in such a biased way that we know exactly what the author both thinks and wants to have happened.

I enjoyed this book enormously, but it's definitely one for the fans of Philippa Gregory, rather than the serious history scholar.


Comprehensive dual biographies of two rulers on the same island, 11 Sep 2008
This dual biography by Jane Dunn is an excellent and highly engaging work of history, and tells much of the Elizabethan age regarding not only politics but also society, religion relationships and gender.

Elizabeth refused to marry and reigned for 45 years as the solitary monarch of England, at the time a revolutionary decision.
A women of great strength, a wise ruler (although as the author points out, unlike Mary, she was blessed with dependable and skilled advisers) and as we see a great orator and poet.
Her rallying of the people of England against the Spanish Armada certainly was something of a reflection of Churchill's rallying of Britain against the Nazi menace 400 years later.
We need leaders in the West today who can stand up against the threat of Islamo-Fascism and terror.

Mary was a passionate and wilful adventurer. married twice for political gain, but took several lovers, and certainly was passionate at different times in her love for Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley(who she came to despise for good reason later) and for the Earl of Bothwell.

Mary was a vengeful ruler and the more ruthless of the two queens, she felt nothing plotting the overthrow and death of Elizabeth, while it was with great anguish that Elizabeth was forced to sign Mary's death warrant, after Mary's plotting (The Throckmorton and Babington plots) made her end inevitable.

Essentially the book is about a fatal and tragic clash of interests.
"A fatal complication ensued when Mary turned her sights on the greater crown of England. believing it her rightful inheritance and a claim worth pursuing. Elizabeth's fundamental insecurity in her own legitimacy, where the whole of Catholic Europe was ranged against her , 'the bastard child of a whore' increased the tension and emotional volatility of the issue. The complex rivalry, the feint and parrying of their personal relationship, sprang from the challenge Mary made for Elizabeth's throne, and the unassailable legitimacy of her claim. The powerful passions this relationship engendered in each was a result of their strikingly different natures. The fact that they never met allowed their rivalries to inflate in each Queen's imagination, their qualities elaborated upon by ambassadors and courtiers intent on their own ambition".
Elizabeth was a prisoner accused of treason and threatened with execution as a young girl, before gaining the throne, seen by the majority of England's people as a great deliverer from her older sister 'Bloody' Mary I's 's tyrannic religious repression of the Protestants.
As was written in John Fox's 'Foxes Book of Martyrs' where he records the names and circumstances of ordinary people put to death for their faith under Mary I "When these at Maidstone were put to death
We wished for our ELIZABETH."



Mary of Scots became Queen in a blaze of glory before a series of intrigues and catastrophes led to her being cast off the throne in a civil war, before fleeing to England.
She was detained on Elizabeth's orders as she was a very real threat to Elizabeth's life and throne on which she had designs, but lived in great luxury and with a large degree of freedom.
Elizabeth did all she could to be merciful but Mary's plotting and attempts to take the throne sealed her own fate.
As Elizabeth wrote to Mary "You have in various manners attempted to take my life, and bring my kingdom to destruction by bloodshed. I have never proceeded harshly against you but have on the contrary protected and maintained you like myself. These treasons will be proved to you, and all made manifest' before asking Mary again to answer for her actions and admit her guilt, and Elizabeth would again be merciful.
Mary's actions played into the hands of Elizabeth's council who then forced elizabeth to give the signal for her execution.

Biased towards Elizabeth?, 24 Nov 2007
I enjoyed reading this book but am uneasy about it being pitched as historical biography since so much of it, in my opinion, is conjecture on the side of Dunn. The very qualities that make it so readable (and which other reviewers have loved) are also the qualities that make it vulnerable as 'history': the idea of getting inside the heads of these characters and understanding their thoughts, feeling and emotions is, for me, absolutely fine in a novel but dubious in something purporting to be factual when there is no, or very little, evidence. While I absolutely agree that all history is interpretive, this goes a little too far.

I also thought it was heavily biased towards Elizabeth, and the patterning of the two women was too polarised: Elizabeth the cool, intellectual virgin (which Dunn accepts literally) and Mary the fascinating but over-emotional, over-sexed and spoilt femme fatale. Dunn's reading of the politics between the two queens was itself overly emotional, rather naively, in my opinion, accepting Elizabeth's supposed reluctance to have Mary executed and her post-event grief as genuine - when scholars in the field have offered far more Machiavelian readings than that, especially from a woman who Dunn herself portrays as putting rationality over emotion.

That aside, this is undoubtedly an enjoyable read, and the novelty of a dual biography of the two women gives it its own niche in an over-crowded tudor/elizabethan book marketplace. I would just add a historical reality check, or at least a caveat about keeping in mind alternative readings and interpretations of the evidence.

P.A.J.Oswin ''Artefactman'', 01 Sep 2007
This is perhaps one of the best books ever written on the subject of Elizabeth and Mary; (those reviewers who feel that it overly favours Elizabeth, should consider the possibility that Mary was indeed the lesser of the two - full-stop!). Jane Dunn beautifully balances scholarship with an easy, but distinctive style - it reads like the best of novels. I place this work in the 'top three' of my all-time favourite history books; and I've read hundreds!

A Satisfying Read, 03 Jul 2007
This book is highly historically accurate, and Jane Dunn maintains a steady transition while giving information about the two Queens. This book is certainly not for beginners in English since this book contains a complicated vocabulary which even I do not understand. Elizabeth and Mary is not a novel and is only about various events that occur in chronological order. You can even list the events that are described by Jane Dunn in the book. The only reason I rate this book four stars instead of five stars is because this book has an interesting grip in the beginning but becomes monotonous towards the middle. That is when Jane Dunn increases the intensity level of just naming events that took place. The quotes Ms/Mrs. Dunn uses in the book are from people during the time of Queen Elizabeth and Mary itself and the spelling is in old English which I do not know how to read or make out what word it is, and Jane Dunn does not provide much clarifications either.

Disappointing, 07 May 2007
I have been reading books on both queens since I was a child, and would consider myself to be well acqainted with their stories. I borrowed this book from the library and have to admit to being very disappointed in it. I found the author to be heavily biased in favour of Elizabeth, the style of writing repetitive and frankly - poor.

The Sometimes Princess, 05 Nov 2008
So much has been written about Queen Elizabeth I and her glorious reign, but it seems that her life prior to coronation is glossed over. This book concentrates on her birth, early childhood and adolescence. It helps to explain many of her later idiosyncracies. Her early years were uncertain and changeable. One moment Princess Elizabeth, the next just Lady Elizabeth. In adolescence, years spent in The Tower at her sisters disposition! Such a dramatic childhood and youth need a separate book dedicated solely to them. This is that book. It reads very smoothly and ends tantalisingly just as Elizabeth's reign begins. Highly recommended.

Strange, 15 Jul 2008
This is not the kind of history that I was expecting - highly populist, focussed more heavily on Elizabeth as a person than on the politics and her decisions as a Queen. Beware.

Good introduction, 16 Oct 2007
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A brilliant introduction to a fascinating life, 21 Sep 2007
This book is both extremely thorough and very readable. Not only does it illuminate an area of Elizabeth's life that so many other works on the ruler skate over,it does so in an accessible and informative manner. Elizabeth actually emerges as a real flesh and blood teenager, rather than the formidable figure, with her glownig white face and imposing dress of later years.

Very useful for those developing an interest in the Tudor monarchs.

A brilliant biography on the life of Elizabeth Tudor prior to her reign. , 30 Aug 2007
`Elizabeth' by David Starkey is a fantastic account of the life of Elizabeth Tudor prior to her accession to the English throne in 1558. As such the book examines Elizabeth's upbringing and education, along with her zeal for learning, and the occasions where she encountered danger.

Starkey examines well Elizabeth's intellectual capability and highlights how this precocious nature was not only inherited from her father (and her siblings too shared such aptitude) but also from personal enthusiasm. Not only does it appear that it gave her personal fulfilment and that overall it was enjoyable, but it was also of a means to reunite herself with her father, who had distanced himself after the execution of his second wife and Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn. Starkey also brilliantly observes that we should dismiss the traditional and fanciful idea that it was Katherine Parr who reuniting Elizabeth with her father. In fact as he points out, such a reunion occurred prior to when Katherine's marriage to Henry. Instead the reunion was formed because both father and daughter wanted it, and in the case of Elizabeth she must be credited for employing the effort to seek it.

Starkey also covers well Elizabeth's admiration for her father. We may find it hard to understand why a girl would want to have a relationship with a father who executed her own mother. But Starkey explains Elizabeth's fondness for Henry in an understandable manner. The humiliations that Elizabeth endured in her early childhood were forgotten by the time she ascended into her teens, not because she was fickle but because the harsh actions committed towards her were done when she was very young and so she may have naturally forgotten such actions. She also probably could not remember her mother and may have found it hard to feel passionate for someone who was absent from her life. In contrast Henry was her reminding parent and as Starkey stresses, Elizabeth was impressionable in her early teens so its understanding that she would reach out for her reminding family. This not only included her father but also her new stepmother Katherine Parr who she formed an important relationship with.


Elizabeth's impressionable nature in her adolescence is careful examined throughout the book. This is particularly well observed when Starkey writes about Elizabeth's time in her stepmother's household. After Henry VIII died Katherine Parr married a young ambition nobleman, Thomas Seymour, who unfortunately for Katherine and for Elizabeth took an interest in the young girl that went beyond fatherly affections. The result was a series of behaviour which we may deem as child abuse although Starkey does not endorse the idea that Seymour went so far as to sleep with Elizabeth. Ultimately Starkey also highlights that after Seymour's actions and when the council interrogated Elizabeth as to her relationship with Seymour, she kept her head and even at that age she had a remarkable ability to remain composed and prepared to fight in times of personal trouble.

The biography also covers the other significant occasion where Elizabeth faced near ruin. This is her arrest and interrogation in 1554 during the reign of her sister Mary I. A rebellion, known as Wyatt's rebellion, had occurred in 1554 against the proposed marriage between Mary and the Spanish prince, Philip. After the rebellion had died down the rebels homes were raided and amongst Thomas Wyatt's papers was a copy of a letter written by Elizabeth to her sister Mary telling her that she did not wish to leave her country home to avoid the rebels on account of her poor health. Subsequently the council had what they needed to arrest her. Starkey highlights that throughout her interrogation and imprisonment there was the existence of several courtiers who wished her gone, including the Spanish ambassador Renard who summarised to his master Charles V that she was a threat to Mary. But throughout Starkey reminds us that we must not romanticise Elizabeth's time in the tower as some previous historians and even contemporaries loved to do; instead we have to remember that she was not completely defenceless, being as she was the largest landowner in England, the rightful heir to the throne under Henry VIII's will and importantly she had the affections of most of the people.

Overall `Elizabeth' is a fantastic biography on one of the most remarkable women of the sixteenth century. Throughout Starkey conveys well Elizabeth's formation of character and this fighting spirit that she employed not only in her time before becoming queen but also after. He doesn't romanticise her life or attempt to make it more tragic to gain the reader's overwhelming sympathy. He also does not degrade Elizabeth's enemies but instead refers to their positions as well. The central theme that recurs throughout the book is the concept of survival; Elizabeth's early life was not an easy one yet she strove not only to get the crown she wanted but also she fought to stay alive. Starkey does a fantastic job with this biography and if you are interested in this era as a whole then also try his work on the six wives of Henry VIII as `Elizabeth' can be used as a direct sequel to that book.


The True Meaning of Majesty, 05 Nov 2008
This book picks up Elizabeth's life at the time of her sucession to the English throne up unto her death in 1603.It covers every aspect of her reign. The continual threat from Mary, Queen of Scots, Spanish invasion and excomunication from Rome are just some of the troubles that Elizabeth had to deal with. The reader is also made very well acquainted with all the political stars of the day who were so essential to the affairs of the country and others who sought their own advancement only. Alison Weir paints a wonderful all round picture of the last Tudor court, which always gives me the impression that I'm watching a film rather than reading a book. With so much material available on Elizabeth I it can be difficult to make a choice. For a detailed journey of her pre- Queen life, one should look elsewhere. But this is as a superbly informative narrative of her reign. Thoroughly enjoyable reading.

Great non-fiction read., 19 Oct 2007
I was totally hooked on this book right from the start, although I usually read historical novels rather than non-fiction. It is so well written and descriptive that I felt I was an eye-witness at the Tudor court. If only school history lessons had been so interesting!

Very sympathetic portrayal of Elizabeth, 28 Jul 2006
Alison Weir writes a very engaging and sympathetic account of Queen Elizabeth, taking the reader right into the heart of Renaissance England and Elizabeth's splendid court. This is a vivid portrait of Elizabeth and her relationship with her rivals, suitors, courtiers, subjects, foreign diplomats and enemies. All aspects of court life are covered, from social relations and life at court, to war and the politics of 16th century England, thus providing not just an engaging biography but also a journey in time, taking the reader back 500 years to an England at once imperial, majestic, and in the midst of civil political turmoil. One star less because I feel as if not enough space was given to Elizabeth's relationship and dealings with Mary Tudor or the character and motifs of the Earl of Essex, the uprising of the latter being glossed over very quickly and in little detail, despite Essex's influential role at court.

Deeply compelling, 22 Oct 2003
I have read many of Alison Weirs' books (the latest being the Princes in the Tower) and can not fault her. Aside from her exquisite ability to transport you to an age where the ruler of a country was all powerful. She guides and teaches you about the person and era in which the book is based.

This book in particuar is a "just can't put it down" book. There is everything. Murder, intrigue, treachery, love and even a bit of comedy (I found the thought off essex walking though london yelling for people to take arms against the queen and noone responding as most humerous). Fact is without doubt better than fiction.

Buy this book and you won't be disappointed and I guarentee this will not be the last Alison Weir book you shall buy.

A most enthralling read, 24 Jun 2001
I found Alison's book one of, if not the best I have ever read on Elizabeth, whom I find quite the most fascinating heroine of any age.I disappeared into the book and was transported to her court.Fabulous.

Inconsequential Talk, 22 Nov 2008
This book is very disappointing!
The author rightly says that "all one can do is to present the evidence", but sadly that is exactly
what Sarah Gristwood hasn't done: many of the relevant sources
she doesn't mention, or worse, she misrepresents
them and offers ridiculous explanations.
E.g.: when we are told that the Earl of Arundel and
the Duke of Norfolk warned Leicester not to go into
the Queen's bedchamber in the morning, habitually "handing her
her shift", we are not told what the two lords
said else to Leicester (they made clear to him they would condone his behaviour, if he could assure them he was betrothed to the queen, but as he couldn't, he would endanger the queen's honour); instead we get aquainted with
the fact that Henry VIII also was handed his shift by a gentleman (sic)
and that this was a great honour to that gentleman, so the duke and the earl were just jealous!
It seems to have escaped Sarah Gristwood that Henry VIII was male, while his daughter was female.
There are many such examples in the book. Another
annoying aspect is the talkative style: she talks
about everything but the subject her book purports to be on. E.g., she lectures on Catherine the Great and Potemkin and the courtly love of the High
Middle Ages (which was apparently very chaste, despite Tristan and Isolde who, of course, don't
figure in the book)...
I read a work on Potemkin, in case I am interested in him, I am definitely not in this context...it is exasperating to see more Hamlet quotations in this
book than those from the letters and papers that
belong here:
The author fails entirely to evoke the wonderful images of this couple and their unique love; not even the apotheosis of the Armada, their last days together, and his "last letter" are well conveyed; it is mostly essayistic babble.

Elizabeth and Leicester, 26 Oct 2008
This book has a very interesting subject but I found the read rather intense. There are so many different aspects being covered all at once and I found it a little hard to keep up at some points. It puts to bed the long held theory of the Elizabeth and Leicester's so called love affair and concludes that he was in fact simply a manipulated favourite. It also dulls down the idea that Elizabeth was ever truly in love with Robert Dudley, despite the fact that it was always going to be impossible for them to marry. It is a rather biased interpretation of the evidence. It is none the less an interesting and informative read.

How much did Elizabeth's 'eyes' see?, 04 Jan 2008
There are certain themes in history that have captured the imagination, whose heroes and heroines escape from dusty pages and occupy a place in our own times. At every point in between the same stories and people have their tales told, with an interpretation that fits the relevant age. Of all the kings and queens of England, one has held the hearts of her subjects for longer than any other - Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen.

Either by her own deft knack of public relations, or by the expert spinning of her advisers, the Queen of England was a legend in her own time. Her portrait was standardised, and is as recognisable today as it was four centuries ago. The idea of her being married to the kingdom, both her virginity and devotion intact, has endured through the ages.

Despite her successes on the throne, ruling over the emerging English empire, her relative religious tolerance and stable reign, it is her relationships that have taken the starring role of popular history. Of all her relationships, that with Robert Dudley, later Earl of Leicester, has been the most examined, gossiped and intrigued.

Sarah Gristwood has managed to write a book that balances the extensive source material, the voluminous secondary writings and her own views to present something approximating a balanced view. She admits that anything approaching the truth is impossible to know, but that by setting forward the arguments on both sides one can at least form an informed opinion. Gristwood's writing is engaging, silkenly weaving a rich narrative that evokes the complex characters at its heart. A supporting case of ambassadors, advisers and ladies in waiting add colour to the story, especially with her extensive quoting of ambassadorial despatches.

Gristwood quotes Henry IV of France as saying that the subject of Elizabeth's virginity was one of the three questions all Europe wanted the answer to. It still remains one of the more intriguing questions left forever unanswerable. But there is also more than just the titillation of the queen sexual relations or lack thereof. Gristwood works to rehabilitate the reputation of a man who was a key advisor and power broker in her reign. More than just the plaything of the Queen, Leicester emerges as a historical personality with quite independent ambitions and ideas.

One of the reviewers on this site has suggested this is "one for the fans of Philippa Gregory, rather than the serious history scholar." Whilst I would agree that this is not a heavyweight academic tome (and on such a subject, it probably never would be), I disagree in it lacking merit for those interested in history. Whilst it is true that the author's opinions are stated, she is more upfront in clarifying that they are her opinions. This is more honest than many `popular' histories that simply lay down narrative as fact, despite all history being subjective.

The Queen's lover?, 27 Oct 2007
It's been over 40 years since a biography of Elizabeth I focussed on her relationship with Robert Dudley. Their relationship is fascinating because of the many unanswered questions. Not only, did they ever consummate the relationship, but also did Elizabeth ever truly want to marry him? What was his real influence over events? I've always found their relationship interesting because of the contrast between Elizabeth's actions and those of Mary Queen of Scots in a similar situation. Of course, the two women were different personalities and their political situations were also very different. Elizabeth, though, weathered the scandal of Amy Dudley's death (suicide? accident? murder?) and accepted that she could never marry Robert, where Mary, after Darnley's murder, seemed to wilfully throw away the many advantages she had accrued in her years in Scotland to marry Darnley's accused murderer. The bond between them was strong and Elizabeth drew a lot of comfort from the loyalty of her closest advisors, Dudley among them. Sarah Gristwood's book is an entertaining study of the relationship and how it has been viewed over the past 400 years.

A guilty pleasure, 19 Apr 2007
If you're looking for an academic history which is methodologically sound then forget this - but if you're looking for an engrossing, witty, pleasurable read then this is perfect! This is basically a fictional treatment of Elizabeth and her relationship with Leicester dressed up as popular history. Starting with Elizabth's youth, it eschews the political for the romantic, and focuses on her intimate personal relations with Leicester amongst others. The treatment of the death of Amy Dudley admits that we can never know what really happened, and yet lays out the 'evidence' in such a biased way that we know exactly what the author both thinks and wants to have happened.

I enjoyed this book enormously, but it's definitely one for the fans of Philippa Gregory, rather than the serious history scholar.


Comprehensive dual biographies of two rulers on the same island, 11 Sep 2008
This dual biography by Jane Dunn is an excellent and highly engaging work of history, and tells much of the Elizabethan age regarding not only politics but also society, religion relationships and gender.

Elizabeth refused to marry and reigned for 45 years as the solitary monarch of England, at the time a revolutionary decision.
A women of great strength, a wise ruler (although as the author points out, unlike Mary, she was blessed with dependable and skilled advisers) and as we see a great orator and poet.
Her rallying of the people of England against the Spanish Armada certainly was something of a reflection of Churchill's rallying of Britain against the Nazi menace 400 years later.
We need leaders in the West today who can stand up against the threat of Islamo-Fascism and terror.

Mary was a passionate and wilful adventurer. married twice for political gain, but took several lovers, and certainly was passionate at different times in her love for Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley(who she came to despise for good reason later) and for the Earl of Bothwell.

Mary was a vengeful ruler and the more ruthless of the two queens, she felt nothing plotting the overthrow and death of Elizabeth, while it was with great anguish that Elizabeth was forced to sign Mary's death warrant, after Mary's plotting (The Throckmorton and Babington plots) made her end inevitable.

Essentially the book is about a fatal and tragic clash of interests.
"A fatal complication ensued when Mary turned her sights on the greater crown of England. believing it her rightful inheritance and a claim worth pursuing. Elizabeth's fundamental insecurity in her own legitimacy, where the whole of Catholic Europe was ranged against her , 'the bastard child of a whore' increased the tension and emotional volatility of the issue. The complex rivalry, the feint and parrying of their personal relationship, sprang from the challenge Mary made for Elizabeth's throne, and the unassailable legitimacy of her claim. The powerful passions this relationship engendered in each was a result of their strikingly different natures. The fact that they never met allowed their rivalries to inflate in each Queen's imagination, their qualities elaborated upon by ambassadors and courtiers intent on their own ambition".
Elizabeth was a prisoner accused of treason and threatened with execution as a young girl, before gaining the throne, seen by the majority of England's people as a great deliverer from her older sister 'Bloody' Mary I's 's tyrannic religious repression of the Protestants.
As was written in John Fox's 'Foxes Book of Martyrs' where he records the names and circumstances of ordinary people put to death for their faith under Mary I "When these at Maidstone were put to death
We wished for our ELIZABETH."



Mary of Scots became Queen in a blaze of glory before a series of intrigues and catastrophes led to her being cast off the throne in a civil war, before fleeing to England.
She was detained on Elizabeth's orders as she was a very real threat to Elizabeth's life and throne on which she had designs, but lived in great luxury and with a large degree of freedom.
Elizabeth did all she could to be merciful but Mary's plotting and attempts to take the throne sealed her own fate.
As Elizabeth wrote to Mary "You have in various manners attempted to take my life, and bring my kingdom to destruction by bloodshed. I have never proceeded harshly against you but have on the contrary protected and maintained you like myself. These treasons will be proved to you, and all made manifest' before asking Mary again to answer for her actions and admit her guilt, and Elizabeth would again be merciful.
Mary's actions played into the hands of Elizabeth's council who then forced elizabeth to give the signal for her execution.

Biased towards Elizabeth?, 24 Nov 2007
I enjoyed reading this book but am uneasy about it being pitched as historical biography since so much of it, in my opinion, is conjecture on the side of Dunn. The very qualities that make it so readable (and which other reviewers have loved) are also the qualities that make it vulnerable as 'history': the idea of getting inside the heads of these characters and understanding their thoughts, feeling and emotions is, for me, absolutely fine in a novel but dubious in something purporting to be factual when there is no, or very little, evidence. While I absolutely agree that all history is interpretive, this goes a little too far.

I also thought it was heavily biased towards Elizabeth, and the patterning of the two women was too polarised: Elizabeth the cool, intellectual virgin (which Dunn accepts literally) and Mary the fascinating but over-emotional, over-sexed and spoilt femme fatale. Dunn's reading of the politics between the two queens was itself overly emotional, rather naively, in my opinion, accepting Elizabeth's supposed reluctance to have Mary executed and her post-event grief as genuine - when scholars in the field have offered far more Machiavelian readings than that, especially from a woman who Dunn herself portrays as putting rationality over emotion.

That aside, this is undoubtedly an enjoyable read, and the novelty of a dual biography of the two women gives it its own niche in an over-crowded tudor/elizabethan book marketplace. I would just add a historical reality check, or at least a caveat about keeping in mind alternative readings and interpretations of the evidence.

P.A.J.Oswin ''Artefactman'', 01 Sep 2007
This is perhaps one of the best books ever written on the subject of Elizabeth and Mary; (those reviewers who feel that it overly favours Elizabeth, should consider the possibility that Mary was indeed the lesser of the two - full-stop!). Jane Dunn beautifully balances scholarship with an easy, but distinctive style - it reads like the best of novels. I place this work in the 'top three' of my all-time favourite history books; and I've read hundreds!

A Satisfying Read, 03 Jul 2007
This book is highly historically accurate, and Jane Dunn maintains a steady transition while giving information about the two Queens. This book is certainly not for beginners in English since this book contains a complicated vocabulary which even I do not understand. Elizabeth and Mary is not a novel and is only about various events that occur in chronological order. You can even list the events that are described by Jane Dunn in the book. The only reason I rate this book four stars instead of five stars is because this book has an interesting grip in the beginning but becomes monotonous towards the middle. That is when Jane Dunn increases the intensity level of just naming events that took place. The quotes Ms/Mrs. Dunn uses in the book are from people during the time of Queen Elizabeth and Mary itself and the spelling is in old English which I do not know how to read or make out what word it is, and Jane Dunn does not provide much clarifications either.

Disappointing, 07 May 2007
I have been reading books on both queens since I was a child, and would consider myself to be well acqainted with their stories. I borrowed this book from the library and have to admit to being very disappointed in it. I found the author to be heavily biased in favour of Elizabeth, the style of writing repetitive and frankly - poor.



A must buy, 04 Oct 2008
This book is amazing: if you are interested in the Tudor period but are getting tired about reading about the kings and queens buy this book

A glittering life lived at the centre of the dangerous Tudor court, 02 Jun 2008
For all its verve and colour, the Tudor court was a treacherous place. The ambitious needed quick wits, strong nerves, connections and a great deal of luck to survive. Even favourites were vulnerable; an unwise liaison, an unsought pregnancy, the slightest smear on the reputation of someone near the Queen could bring sudden disaster. Sally Varlow's admiration and sympathy for her heroine is clear and her considerable achievement has been to provide an account of Penelope Devereux's life which is detailed yet utterly readable, and which leaves you caring about the outcome. If Tudor England is your thing `The Lady Penelope' should certainly be on your bookshelf.

A gripping tale from the Elizabethan age, superbly told, 26 May 2008
This true story of the life, loves and political intrigues of a strong, beautiful and multi-talented woman at the court of Queen Elizabeth 1st reads as if the Lady Penelope had only died yesterday, so vividly does Sally Varlow bring her subject to life. I thoroughly recommend this book, but be warned - long after you have finished it you will find your thoughts returning again and again to this bewitching figure from history.

A good political read, 16 May 2008
Very accessible, and a free-flowing read. I was impressed by Sally Varlow's depth of research and her obvious love for her subject - not just Penelope Rich, but the whole epoch, which she brings vividly to life. It was not the "romance" which made the book difficult to put down; Sally Varlow presents a wealth of background information and brings a sturdy and very plausible analysis of the political life of the times which for me was particularly rewarding. Thanks for that.
Stuart Monro


excellent read - but not really a 'rediscovered' story, 13 Feb 2008
I really enjoyed reading this book - but have some caveats. Firstly, this is not really a 'rediscovered' story: any historian of this period certainly knows more about Penelope Devereux that appears in this book. But certainly, Pene