Beyond the podcast: Elizabeth I
Showing 1 to 20 of 20 results
MembershipThe birth of Elizabeth I: everything you need to know.
Henry VIII was sure that his child with Anne Boleyn would be a boy. Yet the disappointing birth of a princess led to the king's greatest legacy. BBC History Revealed shares everything you need to know about the birth of Elizabeth I
MembershipPersonal politics in Elizabeth I's court.
The Virgin Queen's possessive treatment of her favourite advisors and maids of honour was driven more by political motives than by petty jealousy, according to Susan Doran...
TudorElizabeth I and Anne Boleyn: the Tudor queen’s undying love for her mother
The Virgin Queen lionised her “dearest father” in public, despite a childhood in which she was made illegitimate and neglected by Henry VIII. Yet, writes Tracy Borman, examine what Elizabeth did – as opposed to what she said – and it’s evident that her sympathies lay with her mother, Anne Boleyn...
ElizabethanYour guide to William Cecil, chief adviser to Queen Elizabeth I
William Cecil’s name is indelibly linked to the reign of Elizabeth I. But to reduce his vast influence in the Elizabethan era to his relationship with the queen does him a disservice, says Janet Dickinson. Ahead of the 500th anniversary of Cecil’s birth, she considers the prolific work and legacy of one of the Tudor queen’s most famous advisers…
ElizabethanElizabeth I’s love life: was she really a ‘Virgin Queen’?
For a queen known for her alleged virginity, Elizabeth I's love life has long been the subject of great speculation. Here, Dr Anna Whitelock, a reader in early modern history at Royal Holloway, University of London, explores what really went on behind the closed doors of the so-called Virgin Queen
MembershipPrincely pleasures at Kenilworth: Robert Dudley's three-week marriage proposal to Elizabeth I.
Described as Elizabeth I's great love, Robert Dudley came closer than any other suitor to making the queen his wife. Here, historian Elizabeth Goldring explores Dudley's three-week marriage proposal at Kenilworth – his last-ditch attempt, after nearly 15 years of trying, to win the queen's hand
MembershipVideo podcastHow was Elizabeth I shaped by her childhood?.
Dr Nicola Tallis looks back at Elizabeth I's youth to explore how the famous monarch's early years shaped her later life
MembershipThe Virgin Queen? Elizabeth I's forbidden love.
In 1579, the queen embarked on a romance with a French duke she affectionately dubbed her “frog”. The pair seemed destined for marriage. Yet, writes Elizabeth Tunstall, the people of England had other ideas…
MembershipSisters at war: Mary I and Elizabeth I.
By the end of her reign, Mary I’s relationship with her half-sister and successor, Elizabeth, was at an all-time low. But had the Tudor siblings always been such bitter enemies? Nicola Tallis reveals how the duo’s bond was both broken and strengthened by events beyond their control
TudorA Tudor love triangle: Elizabeth I, Lettice Knollys and Robert Dudley
When Lettice Knollys, Countess of Leicester, married Robert Dudley in 1578 without telling Elizabeth I, sparks flew in the Palace of Whitehall. Here, Nicola Tallis tells the story of the love triangle between the three Tudors
MembershipDeadly rivals: Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots.
Elizabeth I's relationship with Mary, Queen of Scots dominated English and Scottish politics for 20 years. Now, as a new film Mary Queen of Scots, starring Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie, airs in the US, we look back at a 2015 article written by Anna Whitelock charting the two queens' stormy rivalry, from fleeting detentes to bloody denouement...
ElizabethanWhy Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots never met
Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots have met many times on stage and on screen. Yet in reality the two women famously never met. But just how close did they come to meeting? And why did an encounter between the cousins never happen? We found out from historian and author Kate Williams…
MembershipWhat if...The Babington Plot to assassinate Elizabeth I had succeeded?.
Jonny Wilkes talks to historian Tracy Borman about how the Tudor dynasty could have been cut short and England hurled into a religious civil war
MembershipTurning points1588: The Spanish Armada.
Part 12 in our 20-part series looking at decisive moments of the last 1,000 years in British history explores 1550–1599. Pauline Croft says the decisive defeat of Spain's invasion force helped reconcile England and Scotland – and had great significance for western Europe too
MembershipWhat if...The Spanish Armada had landed?.
Victory over the Spanish Armada is remembered as one of England’s greatest military triumphs and a key moment in the nation’s naval supremacy. What if the Spanish had broken through and landed in England? Jonny Wilkes talks to historian Robert Hutchinson about how things could have gone differently...
MembershipThe lie of succession: did James I steal Elizabeth I's crown?.
Did James I ‘steal’ Elizabeth I’s crown? Tracy Borman considers evidence that the transition from Tudor to Stuart dynasties may not have been quite as seamless as we’ve been led to believe
ElizabethanThe Bisley Boy: was Queen Elizabeth I replaced by a man? The real history that debunks the conspiracy
The discovery in the mid-19th century of a mysterious grave sparked the theory that Queen Elizabeth I of England had in fact been a man. During her lifetime, Elizabeth’s contemporaries often noted her so-called ‘manly’ qualities – but was this merely the product of a patriarchal society or was the Virgin Queen hiding a profound state secret? In the second season of our Conspiracy podcast series, Rob Attar speaks to Tracy Borman and asks if there’s any basis to the Bisley Boy Legend
MembershipConspiracy: was Elizabeth I a man?.
Tudor historian Tracy Borman explores the conspiracy theory that the future Elizabeth I had been replaced by a young boy in her childhood
ElizabethanElizabeth I's personality: the unfathomable queen
What was Elizabeth I really like? From an early age, 'Gloriana' was a master of hiding her true emotions, choosing to remain silent on one of the most foundational events of her life: the killing of her mother, Anne Boleyn, on the the orders of her father, Henry VIII. Here, Helen Castor attempts to decipher what the Virgin Queen was really thinking behind that inscrutable visage...
MembershipElizabeth I: the monarch behind the mask.
Anna Whitelock looks beyond Elizabeth I's carefully crafted image as an all-conquering Tudor beauty and finds a balding, frail woman, scarred by pox, crippled by headaches and plagued by bouts of depression
