Alison Weir’s Tudor histories have always proved to be a delight and Elizabeth the Queen is no exception. In her two earlier books, The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Children of England, Weir examined the lives of the early Tudor Kings and Queens and chronicled the childhood and youth of Elizabeth I, one of England’s most successful and enduringly popular monarchs. With Elizabeth the Queen Weir continues Elizabeth’s story, beginning with her triumphant accession to the throne following her sister Mary’s turbulent and hugely unpopular reign.
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth the Queen follows Elizabeth from her accession to the throne in 1558 until her death, aged 70, in 1603, chronicling her personal development and relationships as well as the social and political changes that occurred during her reign.
Weir succeeds in portraying Elizabeth as both a woman and a queen, highlighting Elizabeth’s undoubted strength of character and her great achievement in being able to take, and retain, power during such a patriarchal age. All of the most important of Elizabeth’s relationships during her reign are discussed, from her long-standing love affair with Robert Dudley to her curious entanglement with the Earl of Essex and from her rivalry with Mary Queen of Scots to the mentorship of William Cecil.
Although the personal life of Elizabeth I is fascinating in itself, Elizabeth the Queen is particularly interesting when Weir expands the scope of her narrative to discuss social and political life during Elizabeth’s reign. As well as covering the more famous and, seemingly, more important events of England’s Elizabethan period, such as the Spanish Armada and Mary Queen of Scots’ attempts to take the throne, Weir breathes life into the period by discussing vital minutia such as fashion, hygiene (or, indeed, the lack there of) and food. After finishing Elizabeth the Queen, the reader is left with the sense of not only knowing a great deal more about Elizabeth herself but also of the times in which she and her people lived.
Alison Weir
The story of Elizabeth I, her tragedies and her triumphs, seems to have an eternal appeal and Alison Weir tells it with panache. As well as illuminating the character, strengths and weaknesses of Elizabeth, Weir succeeds in bringing the sights, sounds and even smells of the Tudor court to life in vivid detail.
Alison Weir’s great strength is her ability to make dense, fact-packed history seem like a pleasurable, engaging novel. Although all her facts and assertions are backed up by careful analysis of documents, journals, painting and contemporaneous records, Weir blends such information seamlessly into her narrative. There is no interrupting the pace and enjoyment of Elizabeth’s story to search about for a speck of information hidden in a footnote.
Elizabeth the Queen is yet another triumph from Alison Weir.
Elizabeth the Queen by Alison Weir
ISBN 978-0099524250, Vintage, 2009, £8.99, pp 544
Also by Alison Weir:
Katherine Swynford: The Story of John of Gaunt and his Scandalous Duchess
