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sarah2696's review
5.0
It's fitting that I finished this book on the day I submitted my last essay for my Elizabethans unit at uni. The past few weeks, I have been surrounded, encompassed, submerged by the late Elizabethan succession crisis, so whilst I expected succession politics and foreign policy in abundance in this book based solely on Elizabeth's last decade, what I didn't expect was how human Guy paints her.
Gone is the cult of Gloriana, cast aside to reveal a lonely woman, whose oldest and most trusted friends and advisors are dropping like flies. She suffers from arthritic pains and bouts of depression, and as she ages, she seems not only psychologically uncomfortable with facing her mortality, it's something she just can't bring herself to do. Her counsellors are looking elsewhere to secure the future, talking behind her back and all the while she manages to fight of a Spanish invasion whilst dealing with rebellion in Ireland, and eventually has to face the rebellion of Essex, her erstwhile favourite.
Until recently, when I started reading this book & studied Elizabeth's reign in more detail, I never thought of Elizabeth the human. I thought of Elizabeth the Queen, the Virgin Queen, the Faerie Quene - Gloriana. Guy shows the real Elizabeth, a woman who broke the fingers of one of her ladies after hitting her in a violent outburst; the woman who battled with herself over the execution of her cousin; the woman who constantly fought an uphill battle for the respect and authority that should have been hers by rights. The woman that had Leicester's last letter hidden under her bed until her death. The woman who refused to lie down after the death of her oldest friend Kate Carey, complaining that her whole body ached. The story of Elizabeth is actually a sad one, and Guy succeeds in showing us the real Elizabeth.
I'd challenge anyone to read this and not feel overwhelming sympathy for her. It must have been a lonely existence, and I don't think anyone could not sympathise with her.
Gone is the cult of Gloriana, cast aside to reveal a lonely woman, whose oldest and most trusted friends and advisors are dropping like flies. She suffers from arthritic pains and bouts of depression, and as she ages, she seems not only psychologically uncomfortable with facing her mortality, it's something she just can't bring herself to do. Her counsellors are looking elsewhere to secure the future, talking behind her back and all the while she manages to fight of a Spanish invasion whilst dealing with rebellion in Ireland, and eventually has to face the rebellion of Essex, her erstwhile favourite.
Until recently, when I started reading this book & studied Elizabeth's reign in more detail, I never thought of Elizabeth the human. I thought of Elizabeth the Queen, the Virgin Queen, the Faerie Quene - Gloriana. Guy shows the real Elizabeth, a woman who broke the fingers of one of her ladies after hitting her in a violent outburst; the woman who battled with herself over the execution of her cousin; the woman who constantly fought an uphill battle for the respect and authority that should have been hers by rights. The woman that had Leicester's last letter hidden under her bed until her death. The woman who refused to lie down after the death of her oldest friend Kate Carey, complaining that her whole body ached. The story of Elizabeth is actually a sad one, and Guy succeeds in showing us the real Elizabeth.
I'd challenge anyone to read this and not feel overwhelming sympathy for her. It must have been a lonely existence, and I don't think anyone could not sympathise with her.
quintusmarcus's review
5.0
Truly superior historical biography written by an expert scholar of Tudor England. Guy not only has complete mastery of the primary sources of Elizabeth's reign, but quotes from multiple recently discovered documentary sources. Scholarly, and yet, completely readable. Elizabeth was a difficult and complex woman, and Guy portrays her clearly and fairly--to the point that I was a little shocked to learn that she could be every bit as cruel and vicious as her father.
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