Anne Somerset - Elizabeth I

INTERNATIONAL ACCLAIM FOR ANNE SOMERSETS

E LIZABETH I

An excellent book. Somerset is in some respects the most balanced and impartial of all Elizabeths biographers.

The Sunday Times (London)

I am completely captivated by [Somersets] Elizabeth I. Why do I strongly recommend this book? The answer lies in the writing itself, which is a delight. Somerset also has a good story to tell. Precisely because her material is so rich and extensive, it would be easy to be overwhelmed by it all, but Somerset never is.

Peter Gwyn, The Weekend Telegraph

A gorgeous tapestry. Even readers unfamiliar with the dynamic personalities of the Tudor era would do well to start their quest for knowledge here.

Booklist

[Somerset] is an experienced biographer, a thorough researcher, an admirable writer and a reliable judge of character. Just as well, for Elizabeth I is a complex character, not easy to get right.

Financial Times

[Somerset] gives us a portrait with so much fidelity that the effect is just and exhilarating.

The Spectator

Totally captivating. A wry, convincing portrait.

Publishers Weekly

ANNE SOMERSET

Anne Somerset was born in England in 1955 and educated in London, Gloucestershire, and Kent. After studying history at Kings College, London, she worked as a research assistant for various historians. She is the author of The Life and Times of William IV, Ladies-in-Waiting: From the Tudors to the Present Day, Unnatural Murder: Poison at the Court of James I, and The Affair of Poisons. She is married and lives in London.

Books by Anne Somerset

Elizabeth I

The Life and Times of William IV

Ladies-in-Waiting: From the Tudors to the Present Day

Unnatural Murder: Poison at the Court of James I

The Affair of Poisons

FIRST ANCHOR BOOKS EDITION, JANUARY 2003

Copyright1991 by Anne Somerset
Excerpt from Queen Anne copyright 2012 by Anne Somerset.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Anchor Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally published in hardcover in Great Britain by George Weidenfeld and Nicolson Limited, London, and in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, in 1991.

Anchor Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the Knopf edition as follows:
Somerset, Anne, 1955
Elizabeth I / Anne Somerset.1st American ed.
p. cm.
Originally published in Great Britain in 1991 by George Weidenfeld and Nicolson Limited, London.
eISBN: 978-0-307-77399-9
1. Elizabeth I, Queen of England, 15331603. 2. QueensGreat BritainBiography. 3. Great BritainHistoryElizabeth, 15581603.
I. Title.
DA355 .S67 1991
942.055092 B 20
91052731

Author photographSue Greenhill

www.anchorbooks.com

v3.1_r3

For Matthew, with love

Princess Elizabeth, aged about thirteen, attributed to William Scrots (By Gracious Permission of Her Majesty the Queen)

Henry VIII, by an unknown artist (National Portrait Gallery)

Medals of Mary Tudor and her husband, Philip of Spain, by Jacopo da Trezzo (Victoria and Albert Museum)

Anne Boleyn, by an unknown artist (National Portrait Gallery)

Thomas, Lord Seymour of Sudeley (By permission of the Marquess of Bath, Longleat House)

Greenwich Palace, by Anthony van Wyngaerde (Ashmolean Museum)

Richmond Palace, by Anthony van Wyngaerde (Ashmolean Museum)

Whitehall Stairs, by Anthony van Wyngaerde (Ashmolean Museum)

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, by an unknown artist (National Portrait Gallery)

Mary Queen of Scots (National Portrait Gallery)

Elizabeth Is procession to Nonsuch Palace, by Joris Hoefnagel (British Museum)

Queen Elizabeths virginals, c.1570, by an unknown maker, possibly Venetian (Victoria and Albert Museum)

Queen Elizabeth hunting (Mansell Collection)

The sieve portrait of Elizabeth, by Massys the Younger, c. 1579 (Pinocoteca Nazionale, Siena/Scala Photo Library)

Sir Christopher Hatton, by an unknown artist (National Portrait Gallery)

Sir Francis Walsingham, after J. de Critz the Elder (National Portrait Gallery)

The Duke of Alenon, by Clouet (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

James VI of Scotland in 1574, attributed to Rowland Lockey (National Portrait Gallery)

Sir Walter Ralegh, by an unknown artist (National Portrait Gallery)

The execution of Mary Stuart, Netherlandish school, seventeenth century (National Galleries of Scotland)

The English fleet pursue the Spanish fleet east of Plymouth (National Maritime Museum)

Medallion of Queen Elizabeth I, probably after a design by Hilliard (British Museum)

Queen Elizabeth playing the lute (Trustees of Berkeley Castle/Bridgeman Art Library)

William Cecil, Lord Burghley, and his son Sir Robert Cecil (By permission of the Marquess of Salisbury, Hatfield House)

The Earl of Essex, by Nicholas Hilliard (Private collection/Warburg Institute)

Miniature of Elizabeth, by Isaac Oliver (Victoria and Albert Museum)

Miniature of Elizabeth, by Nicholas Hilliard (Victoria and Albert Museum)

Queen Elizabeth I, by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (National Portrait Gallery)

In 1582, Catholic countries throughout Europe adopted the Gregorian calendar, but England continued to use the Julian calendar. This meant that the calendar in England was ten days behind that used in Catholic countries on the continent. When dating events that took place in England, I have continued to use the Julian calendar. However, when dating events which took place on the continent after 1582 I have on occasion used the Gregorian calendar, rather than converting the dates to conform to English usage at that time. Whenever I have done this I follow the date by N.S. in brackets to indicate that the date is in the New Style. Furthermore, although in Tudor England the calendar year was held to start on 25 March, I have taken it to begin on 1 January, in accordance with modern usage.

On the death of King Charles IX of France in 1574, his brother, Henry, Duke of Anjou, succeeded him as Henry III. The latters younger brother, Francis, Duke of Alenon, thereupon became Duke of Anjou in his turn, but to avoid confusion I have continued to refer to him by his earlier title of Duke of Alenon. In the interests of clarity I have also updated Tudor spelling and punctuation when I thought it necessary.

I should like to thank the following people for the assistance they gave me while I was writing this book: Ms Drusilla Beyfus; Ms Candida Brazil; Sir Raymond Carr; Mr Simon Cobley; Mr John Curtis; Air Commodore J. G. Death; Mr Christopher Falkus; Ms Juliet Gardiner; Mr Tom Graves; Judge Bill Gummow; Mr Robin Harcourt-Williams; Ms Judith Jones; Ms Rian King; Ms Hilary Laurie; Mr Douglas Matthews; Mr Raoul Millais; Mr Tobias Rodgers; Lord and Lady Christopher Thynne; Major-General C. Tyler; Ms Margaret D. Young; Mr Ed Victor.