“I, Elizabeth,” by Rosalind Miles, tells the story of Queen Elizabeth I in the style of an autobiography.
The story begins with Elizabeth as an adolescent and continues until two years before her death; decades of successful rule as queen.
This 600+-page tome tells the story of Elizabeth’s life in wonderful detail, from the hardships to the victories. For those who don’t know, Elizabeth I was the second daughter and third child of Henry VIII; destined to never rule. She was third in the line of succession after Edward and Mary. Edward died young at the age of 16, and Mary ruled for a few years until she also died. Elizabeth ruled England for over 40 years–a mostly peaceful reign.
“I, Elizabeth,” starts with the hardships Elizabeth faces of being third in the line of succession and feeling unvalued by her father. She is unwelcome at court for the large majority of her childhood. It is only when Mary becomes queen that she is ordered back to court. There, she is forced to worship with Mary in the Catholic style, even though she is a known Protestant.
She endures this for a few years, after which she is proclaimed queen. There are two themes throughout her life, but especially throughout her reign, which are duly emphasized. The first is the extreme stress she experiences. The second is the men she adores.
Of course as queen she would have stress: from constant threats of plots on her life to war with Scotland, Spain and France–she has it all. This is not unusual.
Then there are the men. Well, really, for the first thirty-plus years of her reign, there is Robin. Lord Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, was a childhood friend who Elizabeth made Master of the Horse and thus permanently installed him at court. They were in love for many years of her reign–until his death. Upon his death, she then became enamored with his stepson. A large part of the book is dedicated to her crushes, as I shall call them.
Being a woman of her time, there is no doubt that at least some fraction of Elizabeth wanted to be able to love, marry and have children. However, she constantly proclaims that she is ‘married to her country’ and thus will never marry a man. The ever constant reminder of Elizabeth’s obsession with one man or another is simply disgraceful and also unjust to her. It is a shame that Miles chose to portray one of the greatest women in history as dependent on men for flattery or whatever reason.
That is not how I want to remember or think of Elizabeth I. She was a strong, independent woman who proved everyone wrong. She should not be portrayed as a weak-willed, men-obsessed woman: she wasn’t one. I sincerely hope the next biography I read about Elizabeth will give a better portrayal of the woman who sacrificed so much and did so much for England.