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Elizabeth, the Queen / The Lady Elizabeth
A special bundle of one fiction and one non-fiction title from betselling historian Alison Weir, both centred around Elizabeth I:
The Lady Elizabeth:
England, 1536. Home to the greatest, most glittering court in English history. But beneath the dazzling façade lies treachery... Elizabeth Tudor is daughter to Henry VIII, the most powerful king England has ever known. She is destined to ascend the throne, and deferred to as the King`s heiress, but that all changes when her mother Anne Boleyn - Henry`s great passion and folly - is executed for treason. A pawn in the savage game of Tudor power politics, she is disinherited, declared a bastard, and left with only her quick wits to rely on for her very existence. But Elizabeth is determined to survive, to foil those who want to destroy her, or who are determined to use her as a puppet for their own lethal ambition, and to reclaim her birthright...
Elizabeth, the Queen:
This book begins as the young Elizabeth ascends the throne in the wake of her sister Mary's disastrous reign. Elizabeth is portrayed as both a woman and a queen, an extraordinary phenomenon in a patriarchal age. Alison Weir writes of Elizabeth's intriguing, long-standing affair with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, of her dealings - sometimes comical, sometimes poignant - with her many suitors, of her rivalry with Mary, Queen of Scots, and of her bizarre relationship with the Earl of Essex, thirty years her junior.
Rich in detail, vivid and colourful, this book comes as close as we shall ever get to knowing what Elizabeth I was like as a person.
The Lady Elizabeth:
England, 1536. Home to the greatest, most glittering court in English history. But beneath the dazzling façade lies treachery... Elizabeth Tudor is daughter to Henry VIII, the most powerful king England has ever known. She is destined to ascend the throne, and deferred to as the King`s heiress, but that all changes when her mother Anne Boleyn - Henry`s great passion and folly - is executed for treason. A pawn in the savage game of Tudor power politics, she is disinherited, declared a bastard, and left with only her quick wits to rely on for her very existence. But Elizabeth is determined to survive, to foil those who want to destroy her, or who are determined to use her as a puppet for their own lethal ambition, and to reclaim her birthright...
Elizabeth, the Queen:
This book begins as the young Elizabeth ascends the throne in the wake of her sister Mary's disastrous reign. Elizabeth is portrayed as both a woman and a queen, an extraordinary phenomenon in a patriarchal age. Alison Weir writes of Elizabeth's intriguing, long-standing affair with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, of her dealings - sometimes comical, sometimes poignant - with her many suitors, of her rivalry with Mary, Queen of Scots, and of her bizarre relationship with the Earl of Essex, thirty years her junior.
Rich in detail, vivid and colourful, this book comes as close as we shall ever get to knowing what Elizabeth I was like as a person.
1348 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 25, 2011
16 people are currently reading
1182 people want to read
About the author
Alison Weir
83 books8,372 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Alison Weir is an English writer of history books for the general public, mostly in the form of biographies about British kings and queens, and of historical fiction. Before becoming an author, Weir worked as a teacher of children with special needs. She received her formal training in history at teacher training college. She currently lives in Surrey, England, with her two children.
Alison Weir is an English writer of history books for the general public, mostly in the form of biographies about British kings and queens, and of historical fiction. Before becoming an author, Weir worked as a teacher of children with special needs. She received her formal training in history at teacher training college. She currently lives in Surrey, England, with her two children.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 9, 2014
I've read Alison Weir before (both historical fiction and history) and have found every one of those books riveting. In this account of Elizabeth I, Alison Weir brings to her subject scrupulous historical research and the novelist's art of colourful, racy and humorous touches. She breathes fire into her subject.
I loved the account of Elizabeth's Progresses. What a master of PR and self-promotion Elizabeth was; and what a brilliant example she sets to all those who excel in this field nowadays! I can't help thinking that if the internet had been available to Elizabeth, it's clear how she'd have used it, and the millions of likes and follows she'd have had. She was a Queen who went viral for the love of her subjects.
When an actress in the role of Elizabeth I addressed us a couple of years ago from horseback at Kenilworth Castle to commemorate Elizabeth's visit there to the Earl of Leicester in 1575, her common touch, her warmth and charm were no mere dramatic devices but based upon the evidence we have of Elizabeth I's actual words and behaviour to her people. What better way to the love and loyalty of the English people, than to ensure you are highly visible and accessible?
Alison Weir has fleshed out Elizabeth's character to a powerful degree, through the close examination of the events for which her reign is both famed and notorious, so now I feel I understand and can empathise with the woman behind the historic events, her humanity, her strengths and weaknesses. It makes me, too, fully conscious of the pressures that were upon Elizabeth, and it fills me with admiration at the way she responded, both as a woman and as a ruler, to key events such as the threat posed by the behaviour of Mary Queen of Scots. The way Elizabeth reacted, in particular, to the massacre of St Bartholomew in France, reminds me of the position the West is currently in, having to compromise with Assad against a worse evil. Elizabeth I was constantly having to choose between the lesser of two evils.
I found the book by turn moving, harrowing and sobering. You cannot help seeing correspondences between the pressures on Elizabeth and those on today's politicians. If she was in charge now we'd probably have avoided several of the conflicts we've seen since the Second World War. How, for example, would we respond to Islamist extremism if we had the personality, the strength, and the particular quirks of Elizabeth I to drive events? I feel that, in very different times, she would have found a card to play, equally clever and appropriate as the ones she played in sixteenth century England.
A brilliant account of this great monarch.
I loved the account of Elizabeth's Progresses. What a master of PR and self-promotion Elizabeth was; and what a brilliant example she sets to all those who excel in this field nowadays! I can't help thinking that if the internet had been available to Elizabeth, it's clear how she'd have used it, and the millions of likes and follows she'd have had. She was a Queen who went viral for the love of her subjects.
When an actress in the role of Elizabeth I addressed us a couple of years ago from horseback at Kenilworth Castle to commemorate Elizabeth's visit there to the Earl of Leicester in 1575, her common touch, her warmth and charm were no mere dramatic devices but based upon the evidence we have of Elizabeth I's actual words and behaviour to her people. What better way to the love and loyalty of the English people, than to ensure you are highly visible and accessible?
Alison Weir has fleshed out Elizabeth's character to a powerful degree, through the close examination of the events for which her reign is both famed and notorious, so now I feel I understand and can empathise with the woman behind the historic events, her humanity, her strengths and weaknesses. It makes me, too, fully conscious of the pressures that were upon Elizabeth, and it fills me with admiration at the way she responded, both as a woman and as a ruler, to key events such as the threat posed by the behaviour of Mary Queen of Scots. The way Elizabeth reacted, in particular, to the massacre of St Bartholomew in France, reminds me of the position the West is currently in, having to compromise with Assad against a worse evil. Elizabeth I was constantly having to choose between the lesser of two evils.
I found the book by turn moving, harrowing and sobering. You cannot help seeing correspondences between the pressures on Elizabeth and those on today's politicians. If she was in charge now we'd probably have avoided several of the conflicts we've seen since the Second World War. How, for example, would we respond to Islamist extremism if we had the personality, the strength, and the particular quirks of Elizabeth I to drive events? I feel that, in very different times, she would have found a card to play, equally clever and appropriate as the ones she played in sixteenth century England.
A brilliant account of this great monarch.
May 7, 2025
Good popular biography of Elizabeth I of England with conventional opinions and interpretations with little extra or much original research so ideal for a general introduction to Elizabeth and her times as well as the mid-late Tudor Age.
June 23, 2022
A re-read of this excellent biography of queen Elizabeth 1st.
June 13, 2015
Another fascinating book by Alison Weir, a compassionate examination of Elizabeth I. I always appreciate how Alison Weir keeps us up to date e.g. Today,this letter can be found in the British library. She makes the past very much part of the present. Elizabeth I was quite the character, brilliant, witty, naughty, vain, compassionate, vulgar, gracious, a bag full of opposites. A must-read for all Elizabethan enthusiasts.
March 24, 2016
ELIZABETH THE QUEEN ONLY VERSION
I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to, originally purchasing it as part of my Alevel history Tudor studies. I found out a lot more about Elizabeth I and loved finding out about her relationships with various other famous people such as Francis Drake. What an interesting Queen!
I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to, originally purchasing it as part of my Alevel history Tudor studies. I found out a lot more about Elizabeth I and loved finding out about her relationships with various other famous people such as Francis Drake. What an interesting Queen!
February 4, 2024
I love historical biographies it’s like being part of gossip from centuries ago. My two takeaways from this book is that procrastination is a valid technique for politics and to never fall for a man pretending to be sick.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews