To paraphrase Jane Austen, it was a truth universally acknowledged by the Tudors that a single woman in possession of a good kingdom must be in want of a husband. Elizabeth – the famed ‘Virgin Queen’ – disagreed During her 44-year reign, the corridors of Whitehall and Greenwich buzzed with intrigue and gossip as the queen swept past with her latest favourite, dressed in her elaborate strings of pearls, red hair held high against gauzy wings. Culturally, she was nothing less than iconic, both in behaviour and appearance.
As a woman, even one sitting on the throne, Elizabeth was constantly coming into conflict with the expectations of the men around her; consistent in her refusal to marry, yet also exploiting gender stereotypes to buy herself time. It is partly for those reasons that she continues to fascinate and elude us. In her 1962 biography, Edith Sitwell described Elizabeth and her court as “the queen and her hive”, conjuring up images of male courtiers buzzing obediently around their queen bee.