Page 45 - All About History - Issue 08-14

She fought off foreign invasions and

domestic rebellions but did she really

preside over a golden age?

Written by Jonathan Hatfull

n 1588, against the advice of her most
trusted aides, Elizabeth I rode out
on her grey gelding to address her
troops gathered at Tilbury in Essex in
preparation of repelling the expected
invasion force of the Spanish Armada. Looking out
at the assembled faces before her, she delivered
a speech that would go down in history and for
many would forever define her: “I know I have
the body of a weak, feeble woman; but I have the
heart and stomach of a king – and of a king of
England too.”
De Lisle is The speech would have to be transcribed and
the author of redistributed for the soldiers who were unable
numerous books
including After to hear the Queen but they had all seen their
Elizabeth and The monarch, armoured and on her steed, ready to
Sisters Who Would stand by them to repel the Catholic invasion.
Be Queen, which was a top ten
best-seller. Her latest book is This image of Elizabeth has been the key to our
Tudor; The Family Story and popular perception of her for centuries, but there’s
is published by Chatto and is much more to her. Elizabeth was cunning and
available now.
capricious, but she could be blinded by affection,
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